Frozen Stiff
by Arieta75
Summary: Nancy Drew and her friends Bess and George expected a fun vacation at a ski resort, but when they find a dead body on a trail Nancy can't resist the lure of a mystery. Frank and Joe Hardy are on a mission to stop a saboteur at an upscale resort. After running into Nancy, they realize their cases are more closely entwined than they first thought. Contains F/N romance & fluff.
1. Heading North

A/N: I don't really know what universe/timeline this story is going to be following, but if you like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys as characters and you think Frank and Nancy were made for each other, this story is for you :P

This is my first fanfiction ever, and I'm a total newbie at writing mystery and romance, so if you hate it, just move on! Feel free to leave any thoughts or critiques, however, to help me improve. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Nancy Drew sat staring at her suitcase, packed hastily with whatever she thought she would need for a winter climate. She was certainly no stranger to travel, having gone across the world and back for some cases, and short-notice packing was one of her specialties. For some reason, however, Nancy couldn't shake the feeling that there was something she was missing. It wasn't everyday she needed to pack for an icy climate, and she wasn't sure what to expect from a Canadian winter.

The reason she needed to pack at all was because of a phone call she'd taken last night from Bess. Bess, against all odds, had won three all-expenses-paid trips to a ski resort in Canada, located somewhere in Banff National Park if Nancy recalled correctly. According to the site it was a very upscale resort that certain high-profile families vacation at. Obviously, Bess had immediately invited both Nancy and George along with her for a full week of snow and fun. The skiing looked fantastic, but the resort itself also promised to be a lot of fun and Nancy was looking forward to the trip.

It would be a break from a mystery, though, and while she was excited to explore the wilderness of the area it would be odd without something to puzzle over during her stay there. Over the past few years, more and more people were calling her for help when they had a mystery on their hands, and not just from River Heights, either. She was quickly developing a reputation as a sleuth and Nancy's schedule had been pretty busy as of late.

Meanwhile, Bess and George were both getting ready in their own way. Bess was packing as many cosmetics as she could fit into her bag as well as all of the latest outfits she was planning on wearing. George, on the other hand, was all set for skiing, snowboarding, and hiking, three of her favourite winter sports. Both girls had different goals for the trip, but the one thing they both agreed on was that they would do their best to steer Nancy away from any potential mysteries in the area for the duration of the trip. While they made this their goal, they weren't altogether too optimistic. Mystery had a way of finding Nancy Drew, whether it was wanted or not.

AAA

Joe Hardy tapped his foot impatiently against the floor as he waited for his dad to finish up and join him and his brother in the living room. He threw a glare at Frank, who was seated calmly, reading a novel, and seemingly uninterested in the promise of a new case from their father. This case would be the one, he knew it. _Something_ was going to happen, although he didn't yet know what. It had to, because if it didn't he'd probably go insane with boredom while his brother calmly watched on. "Agh! What's taking him so long?" he exclaimed in frustration.

Frank tried to suppress a smirk at seeing his younger brother so worked up. It had been a while since they had last gotten a good case, and he knew Joe was hoping this one would make up for the last few cases. Digging through dumpsters and waiting for hours on end before catching the culprit got boring, fast. In all honesty, Frank was probably just as eager as Joe for a new case. He just had better restraint, and the amusement gained from watching his brother hopping around was worth keeping a straight face.

"Oh, don't look so smug, Frank. I know exactly what is going through your mind right now and I know you're looking forward to this."

Frank shrugged and raised his hands palms up, grinning. "Guilty as charged, I guess. But unlike some, I can control myself." Just barely though - Fenton Hardy had been keeping this mysterious case a secret since morning and it was already past dinner. He couldn't help but to wonder where they might be headed to this time. They had made a career for themselves in the sleuthing business, and although they still had to slog through some more boring cases now and then they were getting more and more recognized around the world. Their father, Fenton Hardy, helped them out by keeping an ear out for any mysteries or cases he thought would interest the boys.

"I know, I know, you want to know more about this case," said Fenton, as he entered the room. He noted the behaviours of both boys with amusement, and could tell they were each eager for a case that didn't involve sifting through trash, writing up paperwork, or waiting long hours on a stake out with, occasionally, no results. While he didn't know if this case would prove better, at the very least it'd give them a chance to get away from home for a while and take a break.

"Daaaaad..." complained Joe, anxious for the case details.

Fenton chuckled, and relented at last. "Your next case is to catch a saboteur at an upscale ski resort in the north. There have been complaints of vandalism and such throughout the resort, both inside the lodge and on the trails and slopes. At the moment, the work of the saboteur is fairly mild: a few instances of faulty equipment, a minor case of food poisoning, small events, but the owner is worried it may get worse and wants to catch the culprit before it reaches that point. You'll be staying at one of the guest cabins the resort offers, and he is willing to pay a handsome fee to end the vandalism around the building." Frank looked up, eyes alert.

"Vandalism? Has anyone been harmed in an incident yet?" asked Frank.

"Everyone is unharmed, other than the food poisoning incident, but the owner is insistent that it be investigated fully before that changes for the worse."

"So where are we actually headed, dad?" Joe piped up, happy to know the case was sounding interesting. _Ski resorts? Sign me up! _he thought to himself.

"For this case, you boys will be heading up to Canada."

AAA

The girls walked up to the ski resort with their jaws open. It was huge, and extremely beautiful. The largest building was the main lodge, and it included the check-in, the cafeteria/break room, the lesson sign-up desk, and the rental shops for skiing and snowboarding gear. Nearer the back was a smaller area for putting on your ski or snowboarding boots and other gear before heading off to the slopes.

Their living quarters, courtesy of the contest prize, would be in a cabin set in a smaller area of woods. Although it wasn't visible from the front of the lodge, based on the info package they knew it looked like a cozy log wood cabin, removed from the main hustle and bustle of the vacationing skiers and hikers at the resort.

To George's dismay, however, she caught sight of a uniformed police officer a few minutes after entering the building in a windowed office. Nudging Bess, who was scouting for any potential dates, George pointed out her observation and felt Bess mentally groan beside her. They glanced nervously at each other, then snuck a peek at Nancy. She had definitely noticed the presence of the police officer, and judging by the keen look in her eyes she was dying to walk over and see what the situation was. After a few moments, which Bess and George spent watching her visibly force herself to ignore it and keep on walking, they breathed a temporary sigh of relief knowing that it wouldn't be the last they heard of this police officer during their week-long stay. Like they said, where Nancy Drew went, mystery always followed.

Although the resort _was_ gorgeous, the first thing Nancy noticed upon walking in was not the large glass windows or the solid oak flooring, but the young man in a police uniform standing offside the check-in desk conferring with the manager. It was clear that they didn't want to alarm any guests because both the officer and, whom she assumed was the manager of the resort, were trying to look inconspicuous through the glass window of the office. She saw the manager frown and begin to say something before thinking better of it and shaking his head.

Noticing for the first time Bess and George's shared looks, she gave herself a quick mental shake and reminded herself that she _wanted_ to be on vacation from mysteries for a while. Sort of.

During the stay she was hoping she could have some time to relax and meet some new people with Bess and George. It had been nine months since she had split up with Ned, give or take, and she was eager to head off Bess in her quest to find Nancy's soul mate.

Their breakup had been a mutual one, and while it was occasionally a bit awkward to see each other nowadays, they were pulling off the 'just friends' thing pretty well in Nancy's opinion. In the end, it had eventually just come to the point where Ned was sick of worrying so much each time she started a new case. On Nancy's part, although she had tried to give detective work a break for a while, she couldn't keep herself from it for long. Over time, she found herself resenting Ned for keeping her from it and eventually they realized it would be better for both of them to break things off happily.

Bess, of course, was devastated that Nancy's 'true love' hadn't worked out, but she understood the choice over time and was already starting to try and set Nancy up with someone new. In her opinion, if she could just keep Nancy from a new mystery, she could definitely find a hot Canadian guy (or at least a tourist there) for Nancy to meet up with.

Not to mention one for herself and George, too. She resolved not to waste a second of their time here.

AAA

"So what do you think, bro? Promising start?" asked the younger brother as they stood in the airport terminal, searching for their bags on the carousel. Joe frowned, annoyed. All of the bags were black. _All _of them. There wasn't a blue or green one in sight!

"Well, it sounds interesting enough. We haven't taken on a case of vandalism for quite a while now," Frank replied, also searching for their luggage. They had both been feeling cooped up on the flight, and they were still trying to stretch their legs out as best as they could. In Frank's opinion, the sooner they got there and started working, the better. Thankfully, the flight had passed fairly quickly and Frank had even managed to fall asleep for some of it. Now he just had to get his stuff, call a taxi, and get going to find out what they would be working on exactly. "Either way, we're almost there now - be patient and we'll soon see exactly how serious of a problem they have out there."

Finally, they found their bags and called up a taxi to begin the trip up to the resort, where they would be staying at during their time on the case. From what their father had told them, they would be sleeping in one of the cabins the resort offered in a more removed branch of the woods. It sounded great to both brothers, and they couldn't wait to see it. Finally, they reached the main lodge – just in time to see a glimpse of a young redheaded woman, accompanied by a curvy blonde and an athletic brunette, leaving the check-in desk.

Frank did a double take, which would have been more comical if Joe wasn't so surprised as well.

"Was that-?"

"Did you just see-?"

They stared at each other in confusion, cocking their heads slightly, as they tried to think back to who they thought they had just seen. It was impossible though. They were in Canada, for crying out loud, and they hadn't seen her since their last case together - almost a year ago from today. Frank raised an eyebrow at Joe, and they silently agreed to push it to the back of their minds (at least for now) before making their way to the front desk. That was definitely a mystery they were going to have to solve as soon as possible.


	2. A Hike Through The Woods

A/N: Reviews, comments, or any thoughts on this are always welcome :)

* * *

Nancy sighed with contentment. She was currently wallowing in the best bubble bath she'd had since far too long after a short hike up to their cabins. It was easy enough to find its location, and from there it was just a simple matter of a seven minute walk up the trail. From what Nancy could tell, most of the surrounding cabins were empty at the moment, but she was trying to stop her brain from over-analyzing everything. They were on a vacation, and Nancy intended to give her best effort in trying to avoid a mystery - it was the least she could do, with what Bess and George put up with at times. She did notice that the cabins, six in total, were significantly larger than she'd imagined. Nancy was sure that the three girls would have room to spare sharing one of the cabins.

But right now all she wanted to think about was relaxing. She could definitely get used to this, mystery or not. She didn't want to hole herself up in the bathroom the entire night though, so a few minutes later she made herself get out and towel dry. There wasn't anyone to impress other than Bess and George, but Nancy had a feeling Bess would probably demand to fix her hair if she didn't at least try to run a brush through it. Still enjoying the remaining steam in the bathroom, Nancy combed out her hair, wincing at the occasional prick of pain, and decided not to bother with make up. She would be in bed soon enough anyway. Quickly pulling on a pair of sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt, she made her way into the living room where a roaring fire was going.

Bess and George were already showered and changed, their hair drying by the fire, and they were arguing over the board game they had in front of them. Nancy smiled inwardly: she had a feeling this would be happening, but she didn't expect them to start arguing less than an hour into their stay. She intervened, then started a new game with them. Nancy had planned a lot for the week and she was excited to start them first things tomorrow morning.

"I'm getting pretty tired, so I think I'll turn in soon," Nancy yawned, an hour and 4 card games later.

"Aww, it's still early. But since you're going to bed now, make sure to wake me up as soon as you do!" said Bess, "I've got a date tomorrow with a cute guy that I have to prepare for."

"Already?" snorted her cousin. "That didn't take long."

"Hmph. Well I guess you're not interested in his attractive brother, then, are you?" countered Bess.

Leaving them to their squabbles, Nancy went upstairs to her bedroom and closed the door, starting the space heater in the hallway to chase away the lingering chill in the air. Laying down and closing her eyes, the soft bed and warm blankets soon lulled her into a deep sleep. Bess and George decided to turn in shortly after as well.

AaA

"Frank, let's get going already!" whined Joe, impatient to get a look at their living quarters during the case. They trudged through a thin layer of snow following the path to the cabins. It was barely a 10 minute walk, but by the time they reached the cabins they could no longer hear the everyday noises from the ski lifts and lodge.

Frank gave a cursory glance over the surroundings. There were six cabins in total, at least that he could see, placed in three groups. Of the six, they all appeared unoccupied except for one on the far right side away from theirs, judging by the footprints in the snow. Although he was curious as to who his neighbours were, he pushed it out of his mind and refused to consider the possibility that a certain red-headed sleuth might be close by. He had to go over the case file undistracted right now.

The resort was owned and managed by two brothers, Paul and Jack White, respectively. According to them, the sabotage was fairly small right now and spread apart in terms of time... over the course of a few weeks, only a few incidents had actually occurred. From his analysis of the cabins, it appeared that while they would be a good target for sabotage at the moment only one other was occupied.

"Hey, Joe!" Frank called. "Get your butt over here or I'm opening these without you!"

"Noooo," cried Joe, "I'm coming, I'm coming." The blond left the kitchen only slightly sadly, making sure to grab a snack first, and made his way to the living room. There, he found his older brother with the case files and documents, picked up from the front desk that morning and currently spread over the coffee table. "Alright. So what do we got?"

Frank frowned, considering. "We know that the sabotage started around 3 weeks ago, when they first began having issues with the ski lift. At first, they thought it was regular wear and tear on the machines - at least until it happened again, on the snow blowers, then again on the snow plows. Most of the vandalism was done outside, except for one case of food poisoning when a few families fell ill after eating the same meal."

"Alright, so maybe someone wants to shut the place down."

"I was considering that, but who? Right now the resort is in great shape so there's no reason the owner would want to shut himself down. There are no competitors looking to buy out the land that I know of yet, and the owner, Mr. White, didn't bring up any offers he'd received."

"A personal grudge, then, some kind of vendetta against the owners."

"Possible. But again, you'd think a guy would know if there were people out there very invested in killing him. Neither brother could provide any personal enemies, although they gave me some info on their leading competition in ski resorts. But I asked, and they haven't received contact from them in awhile."

"We'll put them on our suspect list anyway. Do you have the name of the competitor?"

"Yeah, all of the contact info is here."

"It's odd. I guess our plan of action should be to check out those sites of vandalism and see what gets turned up. Maybe if we know how professional the job is, we can narrow down the potential suspects. We'll start first thing in the morning, then."

"Alright. What are you planning for the rest of the night?" asked Frank.

"Hey, there's plenty to do here," Joe said with a grin, plopping down in front of the TV in the living room. Frank shook his head, smiling slightly. Some things never changed, whether they were at home in Bayport or up in Alberta, Canada. He would spend his evening examining the cabin - if sabotage was happening around the resort, with the customers being the main targets, there was a good chance he and Joe might encounter some problems during their stay here.

AaA

Nancy woke up freezing, despite the blankets draped over her. The curtains were open and light was spilling in through the frosted panels of glass. It was beautiful outside, but Nancy was sure she had turned on the heater before going to bed. It shouldn't have been this cold unless Bess and George had decided to turn it off for some reason. Checking the alarm clock on her bedside table, she realized it was half past six in the morning, early even for her.

_Must be because I turned in so early... the flight wore me out, too..._ Nancy mused, as she changed into some warm clothes for the day. She expected George to be up soon, but chances were Bess would sleep in a bit later. As she made her way into the hallway, she stopped to examine the heater. It still indicated that it was turned on, but it was definitely not making any heat - perhaps it was broken? She made a mental note to bring it up to reception when she got her rental skis later in the morning.

Making her way into the solid oak kitchen, she found a pot of coffee and a note from George saying she was going for a quick hike and not to worry - she wasn't about to do anything too dangerous. George had also noticed the heater and suggested Bess have a go at fixing it.

Bess was a whiz with all things mechanical, in contrast to her more girly nature and love of fashion. Hand her a machine, and she could take it apart, fix it up, and put it back together better than before. It had come in handy on some of the cases they had worked on together in the past.

Looking out the large kitchen window into the heavily forested area, she wondered if her friend had gotten too far for her to catch up yet. Remembering her promise to Bess, though, she made her way to the blonde's bedroom and gently nudged her friend awake. As expected, she was sleeping like the dead.

"Nancy! It's freezing in here!" Bess said through chattering teeth after she got dressed. "You turned the heater on, right?"

"I'm positive. It must have stopped working midway through the night, so George and I were hoping you could take a look at it."

"Yeah, sure... after I have some caffeine in my system," she promised Nancy, yawning widely.

After finishing the coffee in the pot, Bess made her way back to the hallway outside the girls' bedroom and crouched down, manoeuvering the device so the panel on the back faced her. "Can you find me a small screwdriver, Nancy?"

"Sure, I think I saw one in one of the kitchen drawers this morning." Nancy brought the tool to her friend and watched with interest as she got to work. After double-checking the power was totally off and making sure she wouldn't be electrocuted, or end up starting a fire, Bess examined the inner workings with a thoughtful expression. Her brow furrowed, and she gestured at Nancy to look what she called the heating element.

"Right here... this looks kind of suspicious. There's a chance it's just wear and tear, or a faulty machine, but we should really bring it up to the manager. It almost looks intentionally done, but why would anyone do that?"

"Any chance of starting a fire?" asked Nancy, slightly worried.

"No, I think we're safe. Whatever the cause is, the only problem will be a lack of heat. Just to be sure, though, let's make sure no one turns this on again." The girls decided to leave it in the hallway, but unplugged. It was nearing seven thirty already, and when Bess realized the time her eyes widened and she gave a yelp. "Oh no, I've got to start getting ready or I might be late!"

As soon as Bess remembered her big date, which she assured Nancy was really only a small brunch in the caf and a coffee with a respectable looking guy, they made plans to hit the slopes around lunch when it would hopefully be less busy.

In the mean time, Nancy decided to take a leaf out of George's book and explore the local area. She grabbed her parka and put on her hat, scarf, and mittens - if it was this cold in the house, she shuddered to imagine what it would be like outside.

Leaving Bess to shower and primp, she made her way outside and looked around. It was cold, freezing, actually, but it was a gorgeous sight. There was snow everywhere, covering the surface of all the trees and blowing off the roof. Luckily it wasn't going to snow today, at least according to the weather forecast, and Nancy was excited to check out the winter activities in the area. Noticing there were new tracks in the snow near the cabins, she realized that they would be having neighbours after all. Shrugging it off, she followed the tracks made by George to see where her friend had gotten off to.

AaA

"Frank. Frank. Frank. Frank. Fran-"

"Yes, thank you, Joe, I'm up. What is it?" Frank asked grumpily. It was far too early for Joe to be up yet, although the sunlight indicated it was at least six. In fact, Frank was normally the one waking Joe up but he had trouble falling asleep last night pondering the suspect list, if it was even long enough to be called that, for their case.

"Mr. Responsible, sleeping in? Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" Joe teased. "I'm just kidding. It's, like, barely dawn and while normally I would be wrapped up in the amazingly soft quilts provided by the resort, as you are doing yourself, I'm hungry."

"So?" asked Frank, confusion written all over his face. "There's a kitchen in the cabin, a fridge stocked full of food, and you can make your way to the caf in the main lodge if you're not in the mood for cooking."

"Oh," said Joe. "I forgot about that."

_Seriously? _thought Frank. _Typical little brother for you._

"Well, since I'm up now, I'll make us something to eat. Next time though, think it through first, okay?" Frank said exasperatedly.

The brothers continued their light-hearted banter across the table during breakfast, when Joe finally brought up the girl they had seen yesterday. The girl they _thought_ they had seen yesterday.

"I know we didn't see their faces, but what other trio of girls has a red-head, a blonde, and a brunette? They look just like them!" exclaimed Joe.

"Look, I'm not saying it wasn't them, but even if it is we need to focus on the case first and foremost. That _is_ what we're being paid for, you know."

"Oh, I get it," Joe said, comprehension dawning on his features. "You just don't want to acknowledge your crush on Nancy."

"Wha-? I don't -" Frank spluttered, choking on a large gulp of coffee. He coughed, and continued more calmly, although Joe could see a blush forming. "I don't have a crush on Nancy. It doesn't matter, anyway. She has Ned. And she's happy with him. Whatever has happened between us in the past were just one-time occurrences, nothing more."

Joe sighed. It was true, although he would never admit this to his brother, that Frank was normally the more calm and rational Hardy brother. But when it came to his feelings, especially his feelings about a certain detective, his brother was either blind, or a willingly ignorant idiot. Joe leaned toward the latter, but he could never be sure with Frank.

_"Anyway,_" Frank continued, "like I was saying we need to focus on the case right now. While you were doing whatever you were doing last night, I was looking over the case file again. I think our best bet would be to grab some skis and head up the slopes - the main damage seems to be focused there."

"Hey, I'm down with that," Joe grinned. "But I'll leave the skis to you. I'm more of a snowboard guy myself."

With that settled, they finished breakfast and made their way to the lodge. It was nearing brunch already and they still needed to pick up their rental equipment. Passing briefly through the caf, they got their gear and headed for the slopes. They were planning on spending a while out there to fully investigate each incident of sabotage. Well, Frank was planning to. Personally, Joe didn't see the harm in getting in a few runs in after they were done, and he would be sure to drag his brother along for the ride. The slopes which had undergone damage were currently still closed for repair, though, with the promise to open as soon as it was safe for customers.

"Frank, do you have a map of the area?" Joe asked.

"No, but I remember where we're going well enough. Why?"

"All of these sabotaged machines are basically side by side. Wouldn't it make more sense to pick and choose slopes far apart to cause damage over a larger area?"

"I've been thinking the same. It doesn't make sense, unless the security in this area is more lax than elsewhere or something," replied Frank. It was odd, but it might help give them a motive for the saboteur.

Determined to get to the bottom of all of it, the brothers began to make their way to the first run on their list.

AaA

Bess had been enjoying a perfectly good brunch date with a perfectly nice (not to mention cute) guy named Adam. Then, Bess caught a glimpse of a familiar face from the corner of her eye and almost choked on her sandwich.

"Are you okay?" asked Adam, concerned. "You can have some of my water if you need it."

"Yeah... I mean, no, thanks," Bess said, distracted. "Look, I'm really sorry but I need to go check something out."

He frowned in confusion. "Right now? Is everything alright? I can call security here if someone's bothering you."

"No, I'm fine. I just thought I saw an old friend of mine. I'm really sorry to cut our date short, but let's make it up later," Bess said, batting her blue eyes at him.

"Okay, well you have my number, so give me a call," he said.

"Sure," she promised, then hurried off hoping it wasn't too late to catch who she thought she had seen. Because if she was right, and Nancy was going to flip if she was, she had just seen Joe Hardy and his brother Frank heading to the rental shop.

AaA

There was plenty of time to kill before Nancy and George had to meet Bess for lunch, so Nancy decided that she may as well put her time to good use. Nancy was 30 minutes into her hike when she caught sight of George Fayne standing at a sign post farther up the trail. Hurrying to catch up, she made her way over and greeted the other girl, learning that George had already made her way down the main path and back. Together, the two continued down a side trail for most of the morning until they caught sight of a smaller trail and decided to follow it instead. Nancy wasn't into sports as much as George, but both loved a good challenge and making their way through a mostly snowed in path in an unfamiliar forest sounded like fun to them.

Only ten minutes later they came to a sudden halt. The trail they had been following had been climbing steadily upwards, but they now faced a drop; a large pile of snow lay at the bottom of it. Deciding to stop for a minute and catch their breath, they were about to turn away when Nancy caught sight of a flash of red in the surrounding forest of white, black, and green. She frowned. _That's weird...  
_  
"Nance, something wrong?" George asked, noting the serious look on her friend's face.

"Hey, do you see that?" she replied, angling her body so her friend could follower her pointing finger. "Something red, down there in the snow."

"Yeah, it looks like... a boot?" George frowned.

How did someone lose a boot on a small trail in a mostly untouched forest? The main trails were all located on the other side of the lodge so this area had pretty low traffic, according to the pamphlet on the resort. It was at least a 20 minute walk back to the cabins, and nothing else was closer than that. No one was staying in the cabins either, although she had seen some footprints around one of them on her way out that morning...

"Let's investigate," Nancy said, a gleam in her blue eyes.

Making sure that they would be able to get back onto the trail again, and marking the way back with George's hat just in case they got turned around in the forest somehow, the girls made their way down the side of the hill. Up close, Nancy could tell George had been right: the flash of red came from the sole of a boot, sticking out of the snow. There was no way anyone could hike through snowy trails without a boot, which meant that its owner was in all likelihood still attached.

Nancy approached cautiously, making sure that if this _was_ a crime scene, she wasn't disturbing any evidence or covering any footsteps. She gestured to George to keep back, just in case, and grabbed a pine branch nearby to brush off the snow. She had had her suspicions from the moment she confirmed it was a boot, and as she began to remove the snow, her suspicions were confirmed.

Nancy and George had just found a body.


	3. Old Friends

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Have a happy holiday :)

* * *

Joe was sick of chair lifts. Don't get him wrong, he wasn't _scared_ or anything. Heights actually didn't bother him at all. But he _was_ getting tired of the long waits as they made their way up to the top. Restlessness had always been a big part of Joe's personality, and although a chair lift wasn't a long car ride, it was equally fraying on his nerves. He glanced to the side and fumed at Frank's calm manner. _For a ski resort as expensive as this, you'd think they'd at least be able to make the chair lifts faster,_ he thought with a sigh.

Finally, they reached the top and Joe gratefully slid off the chair and cleared the area for the next people coming up. According to the information they had, the saboteur had struck various machines in this area, one of many surrounding the resort. Each time the same thing happened: after shutting things down and closing up for the night, the crew and security would leave. The camera in the area would be disabled temporarily and in the morning one of the machines that operated the individual slope would be broken down in a manner that it couldn't easily be fixed.

It wasn't good for business to have to shut down the more popular runs, but the weird thing was that the targeted areas _weren't_ the most popular. While they attracted a fair number of skiers, there were much busier ones and busier areas that would be perfect for hurting business. The fact that these types of slopes were the only ones being targeted ran a red flag in Joe's mind. Taking that into account with the disabled cameras, there was a high chance someone on the inside was involved - even the owner, or his brother, were potential suspects.

If it _was_ a competitor like Mr. White had said, they would have targeted the busier runs. And if Mr. White or his brother _were_ the ones responsible, why call in himself and Frank? It made no sense at the moment, but Joe was determined to work it out soon.

The first step was to get some insight into security of the area from the people who were stationed there. Joe couldn't help but notice a few of the more attractive female employees and he made a beeline for them, leaving Frank to deal with the others.

The entire job took only a little over an hour: once employees realized they were the private investigators hired to stop the sabotage, they were happy to answer their questions and Frank and Joe managed to get a pretty good layout of the security detail in the area. While it helped to have an excuse to question them, it made Frank slightly uneasy that all the staff apparently knew who they were: if it was an inside job, which seemed likely, there would be greater risk for them as they continued with their investigation.

To start, cameras were stationed around the hill - something they already knew from the case file - but during each incident they had been disabled for a short while. No one monitored the camera feed 24/7, because they'd never had this problem before. Once, they did notice a camera was out but when they got there there was no sign of anybody. The men stationed around the slopes had seen no suspicious figures. In short, no one knew what to look for in the saboteur - it could be virtually anybody, including one of the workers themselves.

The two brothers finished their interviews and headed back to the cabin to talk it over.

"So what do you think, Joe?" asked Frank, spread out over the couch in the living room.

"I dunno... Security is surprisingly low around here, especially in light of these attacks. It's kind of weird, actually," he answered.

"I agree. And then we still don't know _why_ the saboteur decided to target those slopes, or that particular hill. It doesn't make any sense," Frank responded.

"It's still early in the day. Let's go up to the main lodge and poke around a bit more - maybe we'll uncover something new."

"Sounds like a plan."

AaA

Bess worried her bottom lip as she looked around the lobby. _Where could they have gone?_ Though she had tried her best to find them, Bess was stumped and had made her way back into the lobby. It was true that they'd gotten a head start on her, but she didn't see them anywhere. If they had been there at all, that is. _Was it _really_ the_m? she wondered. Bess had been so sure it was Joe...

Admittedly, she'd only gotten a glance at best, and out of the corner of her eye at that, but the two brothers made a striking pair and she had been positive that she had seen him. Setting it aside as an overactive imagination, and seriously regretting running out on Adam, Bess decided to meet Nancy and George at the cabin instead of the lodge to fill them in. Considering the time they had left the house, they should be exhausted by now, not to mention pretty hungry.

AaA

It had been a few hours since George and Nancy had woken up to take what they had initially planned to be a quick hike, just around the trails near their cabins, and they were starting to get hungry despite their large breakfasts. Unfortunately, although seeing the body had certainly boosted their adrenaline, it had effectively removed their appetites completely and neither felt like touching the snacks George had brought along with her.

After finding the body, George and Nancy agreed that someone had to stay with the body to make sure no one had come back, and no wildlife had disturbed the area or body. Nancy chose to stay, trusting that the more athletic brunette would be able to reach the lodge faster and deliver the news. If the murderer_ did _come back, she figured she would be able to hide easily enough behind the thick pine trees surrounding the area. Besides, there was plenty to occupy herself with at a potential crime scene.

George tried to hurry, worried that something might happen to Nancy if she was left alone for too long. In her opinion, the fear wasn't exactly unfounded - it was the first day of their vacation, and they had already found a dead body. She didn't think she could drag Nancy away from the mystery if she tried. On her way to the lodge, however, she ran into Bess.

"Ow... George?"

"Bess?"

"I thought you had a lunch date."

"Brunch, actually. And I thought _you_ were out hiking."

"We were, but wait til you hear what we've gotten ourselves into this time. I swear, danger follows Nancy Drew everywhere. Let's get to the lodge while we talk." George said, already moving past her cousin.

"Fine by me. Where _is_ Nance, though?" Bess asked, slightly worried, as she hurried to keep pace with her cousin. "And what's the rush? Is she okay?"

"No, Nancy's fine. Long story short, we found something in the woods," George said, not eager to relive the ordeal.

"And?" prompted Bess. "You can't just leave a story at that."

"What we found..." George let out her breath, "was a body."

Bess' blue eyes widened in shock. _A_ _body?_ "Whose? Did you check for ID?"

"We didn't want to disturb the crime scene, if it is one, anymore than necessary. I didn't recognize him, but I'd guess he was staying at the resort or something."

They had almost reached the main lodge and the manager's office when for the second time in 10 minutes, George walked into someone. She stumbled, catching her balance before tumbling over, and immediately apologized to the person.

"Oh, I'm so... Frank?! Frank Hardy! And Joe, too! What on earth are you two doing here?" George exclaimed.

"Bess? George? I KNEW IT!" Joe brought both girls into a tight hug. "Oh man, it's been ages since we've last seen you guys!" He grinned broadly and shoved his brother lightly. "I told you so."

"What do you mean?" asked Bess, curious.

"When we were checking in, we caught sight of some girls from the back that looked suspiciously like you three. I figured it couldn't have been anyone else, but Frank here is kind of a doubter," Joe explained, shaking his head in mock shame.

"Speaking of... where _is_ Nance?" Frank asked, blushing slightly as Joe smiled knowingly. "And where are you two headed?"

George, sombre at the reminder of her goal, cleared her throat and explained the situation to the brothers. Trying her best to answer the questions from both brothers, the George led the others to the manager's office. While Frank, Joe, and Bess waited outside, George explained the situation to Mr. White.

"You know, I thought I was going crazy this morning, or I'd found your doppelgagner. At least I can rest assured I'm not seeing things," Bess said to Joe with a grin. "What are the chances that all of us are here at the same time again?"

"We_ do_ seem to have a habit of bumping into each other," replied Joe with an answering grin.

"So why are you guys here?" Bess asked curiously. "A new case, or a vacation?"

"We're on a case. There have been incidents of vandalism going on around the resort, although it's mainly all on the ski hills," answered Frank. He couldn't help but wish that Nancy was here now, so that he could go over their case and see what she thought of it all. They had worked together countless times before, and had always seemed to make a great team under stress. While Nancy could occasionally be as impulsive as his brother, Frank loved hearing her reason through problems with him and they always managed to help one another solve their case, sometimes even by accident. _Wanting to see her has nothing to do with having a crush, _Frank reasoned to himself. _Her instincts are incredibly astute, that's all. Joe's way off base.  
_

"Oh, here comes George," Bess pointed out, interrupting his thoughts. She could also see the owner and manager talking seriously to themselves through the glass windows. According to George, the police had been called and the resort's security team was currently making their way down the trail she had described. Frank and Joe couldn't resist seeing the crime scene, especially if there was any chance it was related to their own case, and they were eager to see Nancy again so they decided to go as well, lead by George. Bess, on the other hand, opted out in favour of a hot bath to try and shake off the creepy feeling that accompanied a murder.

"So what do you think?" asked Joe quietly to his brother as they trudged along the path. "There's a chance this is connected to our case, right? I mean, what are the odds that the resort is targeted by a vandal, then a body shows up?"

"I don't know," Frank replied, frowning. His brother was right. While it was possible that the incidents were unrelated, he was inclined to believe the murder was done by the same person. "The thing is, we know better than anyone that murder and sabotage are totally different crimes. Not to mention, no one has been seriously hurt by the vandalism, just inconvenienced at most. Why would he or she choose to kill someone now?"

"We're almost there," George interrupted, glancing back at them. "It's just a bit down from this side trail here."

They picked up the pace, eager to meet up with Nancy and see the body. The path was small, like George had described, and there were some jumbled footprints that probably belonged to the girls. If the body had been moved here recently, it would have come from another direction. There were no tracks that indicated anything large had been dragged through here, Frank observed, and bodies were typically too heavy to carry anywhere far anyway.

Soon, they reached the drop and made their way down to the bottom of the cliff face, following Nancy and George's previous route. The body was still there, almost fully uncovered from the snow, but Nancy was nowhere in sight. Frank switched gears - was there any evidence of a struggle or another person? If Nancy was taken, she would likely have been dragged further into the forest. A few footprints led deeper into the trees then disappeared with the lack of snow - the thick pine trees towering over their heads prevented the snow from reaching the ground. It seemed as though, unless she had been lured out, she had left of her own free will.

"Nancy?" called out George anxiously. _If the murderer came back while we were gone.._. She shook her head, not wanting to continue down that train of thought. It was more likely she had just wandered off to investigate something or look for clues.

"Right here!" came a reply from behind some pine trees. Nancy continued speaking as she made her way back to where the body, and George, was. "Sorry, I was just trying to find out how the body got here. I don't think anyone brought it down from the trail; there aren't any marks that I could find suggesting it. There _are_ a few broken branches over here, though, and some snow has been disturbed from the pine trees so I thought..." She made her way closer and caught sight of Frank and Joe. "Frank? Joe?" she asked, astonished. "What on earth are you two doing here?"

"Well, nice to know you're happy to see us," Frank teased.

"No, I am, just... this is a surprise," she said, moving in to hug each of them with a broad smile. "It's great to see you two again. Are you on a case right now?"

"Yeah, the owner and the manager of the resort, two brothers, called us down after finding evidence of vandalism on the ski run and around the resort. Small stuff like a minor case of food poisoning and damage to the machines running certain slopes; they decided they didn't want police running around their guests so they hired us to do some investigating. We spent the morning up there, questioning the security and staff in the area and found out that it would be easy enough to mess with the machines if you were determined to, but the damaged slopes weren't even the most popular or busy ones. We're still trying to figure out why the damage only occurred there."

"Really?" she asked, interested. "Well, it might not be relevant, but Bess thinks someone might have tampered with our heater in the cabin. We woke up cold, but no worse for the wear."

"We'll check it out, just in case. So how did you two find the body?" Joe asked, turning to George as well.

"We were doing some hiking when we came upon this path... we followed it up to the drop and were about to head back when Nancy caught a glimpse of something red. She was curious, as usual, so we ventured down and realized it was someone's boot. We would have missed it if Nance hadn't been paying attention."

"Don't worry, though," Nancy assured them, "I made sure we weren't disturbing any evidence. Unfortunately, there wasn't any - no footprints or traces of human involvement anywhere near the body. While George was gone, I finished brushing off the body to see if we could determine if it was murder or not. There was no bullet wound, but it is definitely suspicious. Other than the damage in the forest, which is too small to give us a trail, there were no tracks other than the ones making the path up here."

Frank and Joe made their way over to the body, getting a better look at the victim's face. He was a middle-aged Caucasian with short brown hair. It was easy to see his body because he wasn't wearing a coat or hat, and he looked to be an average height and slightly overweight. Traces of frostbite on his face and a lack of blood in the area suggested the cause of death was probably hypothermia, but neither brother could tell why he was out here. There were no signs of skis or a snowboard, and he didn't look like the type to go on long hikes by himself.

"While you were waiting, did you notice anything odd about the body?" Frank asked Nancy.

"You mean other than the lack of snow wear? I didn't want to move it around before the police arrived, but the fact that I could see his boot at all, even just the bottom of the sole, means he may not have been buried; for all we know the cliff and pines provided a natural barrier for the snow and the wind brought it straight here to pile up around him. It wasn't an accident, though - no one goes out in the middle of the night during winter without a coat."

"I agree. Even _with_ a coat no one does that. The question is, why was he murdered?" Frank said thoughtfully. _It doesn't add up: the murder and the sabotage are just too different from each other. Could it _really_ just be a coincidence that this resort has two criminals running around?_

Altogether, he wasn't quite sure what to make of the entire situation. One thing was for certain though - whether the body was related to his case or not, he knew Nancy wouldn't rest until she solved the mystery.

By this point, the workers from the resort and the local police from the nearby village had arrived to investigate, lead by the manager of the resort. Knowing they probably wouldn't have a chance to catch up soon, with all of the questions the authorities were sure to ask the both Nancy and George, Nancy quickly made plans with Frank and Joe to meet up at the caf for dinner and some skiing later that night. It had been a while since they had seen each other, and Nancy wanted to hear more about their adventures since then.

Frank and Joe decided to head back, knowing that whatever clues they could glean from the body had already been found. They would return later once the authorities were finished their investigation to figure out what lay on the other side of the forest.

Meanwhile, it was still a couple of hours before they planned to meet up with the girls, so Frank and Joe decided to check out the rest of the resort. The main lodge consisted of the caf, check-in desk, and rental shop, but they had seen a separate, much larger, building behind it that they knew was the hotel. Most visitors slept in the hotel, but people who rented the cabins were welcome to the same facilities offered there. Frank and Joe had been placed in the cabins only because the hotel was full at the moment, and there were no available rooms. A separate eating area was also located in this building, and Frank and Joe wanted to get the full story behind the food poisoning there.

They found the kitchen easily, but the staff was mostly gearing up to get dinner ready on time. While Joe immediately made his way to the head of staff, an attractive young woman, as usual, and began questioning her, Frank was stuck interviewing the grumpy head chef, who wanted nothing less than to be interrupted midway through starting dinner.

"Yeah, yeah, whaddya wanna know?" the cook sneered. "I don't got all day and you're taking me away from dinner preparations. You know how hard it is to prepare for hundreds of people day after day? And now this! Food poisoning! The crew at the caf won't let this go for days but the fault ain't mine, no siree!"

"My brother and I would like to know your version of the story. How did the incident of food poisoning occur, and how many in question were affected?"

"Hmph. I hope you know I wouldn't be giving you the time of the day if the boss didn't make me," he grunted. "It was potato salad during dinner, and the mayo was spoiled. Most people threw theirs out, but some people got a few bites in first. I know what you're thinking - I must have made a mistake, right? Wrong! My ingredients are freshly brought in regularly, and ain't no way I'd ever put bad mayo into a salad. You ask me, someone gotta have switched out the dish right before it was served. Only way they could've done it without me noticing."

"Is there anybody in particular that comes to mind?"

"Yeah... that smug, stuck-up kid, Jeff. He's over there, prepping the main ingredients for the soup tonight. He thinks he's so talented, job at a fancy ski resort like this, but there are _years _between us in talent," he snorted.

Frank decided he'd gotten enough from the chef for the moment, and thanked him for his time. He made his way to Jeff, next, and began with the same question.

"Why are you asking me?" Jeff asked, confused. "If anyone's to blame, it's the head chef. He thinks he's so great, but he's getting old. My bet is he made a mistake with one of the batches and just won't admit it. Wait a minute," he said, realization dawning on his face. "That's why you're talking to me, right? He put you up to it. Well I can assure you, if anyone messed with the mayo, it _wasn't_ me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to dinner."

Knowing a dismissal when he heard one, Frank decided to see if Joe had learned anything useful. _If he's lying, he's one hell of an actor, _Frank thought as he made his way to where his brother was waiting. _I'll compare notes with Joe and see if he learned anything new._

It was just about time for their dinner with the girls, so the two made their way to the caf, briefing the other on what they had found out. For Joe's part, he'd learned that while complaints were extremely rare at the resort in both the caf and the hotel's kitchen, they weren't unprecedented. The last time an event had occurred, a trainee had mixed up the salt with the sugar and ruined the entire lunch for the day. Needless to say, he had not lasted long there.

Frank filled him in on the head chef's grudge against the younger man, Jeff, and the similar detest towards the head chef in reverse. Before they could continue their discussion, they heard their name being called and turned to see the three girls making their way towards them.

"Hey! Sorry we're late - were you waiting long?" Nancy asked them.

"No, we only just got here. We just paid a visit to the kitchen staff in the hotel to get some more details on the food poisoning and were filling each other in on what we learned," Frank explained.

"I'd love to hear what you've come up with," Nancy said as she took one of the seats across from them, shrugging out of her heavy winter coat.

"As fascinating as that sounds, I for one am kind of hungry," Bess announced. "Joe and I can get food for all of us while you discuss it."

"Fine by me. I _am_ starved, after all," he replied with a wink. The two made their way over to the dinner counter, and as soon as they were out of earshot Joe turned to Bess.

"Nancy and Frank _need_ to get together," he stated, his sky blue eyes twinkling. "And I aim to have it happen on this trip."

"Great minds think alike. Matchmaking is one of my specialties," she grinned deviously. "Any schemes yet?"

"You bet, starting with tonight: this morning Frank and I had to go up the chair lifts numerous times, and they are _long._ It's simple: we just need to make sure they get onto a lift by themselves to start things off," he explained.

"Joe Hardy, I like the way you think."

George looked on at Bess and Joe from the table and shuddered to think why their heads were bent so close in discussion. The two were sneaky enough by themselves; she couldn't imagine them as a combined force. Unfortunately, she had a sneaking suspicion it would involve Nancy and Frank's obvious infatuation with each other. _Seriously, though,_ George thought to herself, _how can two detectives be so blind?_


	4. An Impromptu Investigation

A/N: Is anyone else having problems with the site suddenly crashing, or is that just me? :S

I'll be going on a trip for the next few days, so I won't have a chance to update until then, sorry! I'll post two shorter chapters instead. Also, to all the people reviewing, following, and/or favouriting (is that a word?), thanks a bunch! Feedback/comments/thoughts of any kind are greatly appreciated, as always :)

* * *

George tried her best to pay attention, but Nancy was the detective, not her. She and Frank continued their discussion, completely immersed in their conversation. And while she could definitely immerse herself into a good mystery almost all of the time, she had to admit that interviewing a kitchen staff just wasn't doing it for her. Hand her a computer to break into, give her an email to track, or ask her to solve a logic puzzle and she could lose track of the time any day of the week, but food poisoning? Not her idea of a fun case.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bess and Joe giggling to each other like a couple of kids and smiled inwardly. The two were sometimes so alike, it was scary, from the way they looked to their inside jokes. As they waited in line for food, they stood huddled together in what they probably considered a subtle way, acting as if they were party to a large secret.

As Nancy got the rundown of the case from Frank, she knew she was smiling like a fool but she also couldn't seem to stop. It had been at least a year since she'd seen the Hardy boys last, but it felt like much longer now. She hadn't realized it, but she had really missed talking to Frank during that time. She had kept in touch with both Hardy brothers through email and phone, a fact which Nancy suspected had bothered Ned slightly, but seeing Frank face to face felt warm, familiar, and inexplicably _right._ And right now, his warm smile and easy manner made it seem like they hadn't been apart at all.

She listened intently as Frank finished up what he and Joe had learned, which admittedly wasn't much, during their interrogation of the kitchen staff. "All in all, despite all of our questioning, we haven't made much progress," Frank concluded with sigh. "Even the food poisoning just doesn't seem to add up with the rest of it – all the other destruction has been targeted towards the skiers and snowboarders."

"It's still the first day. And it's always hard to track someone down for something that happened a while ago," she said comfortingly. "Speaking of which, when was the last incident? Maybe there's some kind of pattern in the spacing," Nancy speculated, deep in thought as she worried at her bottom lip.

Frank looked at her and was momentarily stunned. He'd always thought she was pretty, prettier than many of the girls he'd met before, and she was definitely smart. He found himself wondering, if Ned wasn't around would it be possible for... _Woah__. Not a good line of thinking to pursue, Frank. She has Ned, and is perfectly happy with him,_ he reminded himself firmly. Realizing he still hadn't responded, he cleared his throat and said, "It's a solid theory, but Joe and I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary yet. There haven't actually been that many incidents, but the only similarity in time is that each incident was discovered during morning set up. Someone is wandering around during the middle of the night to commit the crime."

That brought Nancy back to the murder. "Speaking of crime, I asked around the crime scene once George and I were finished being questioned about the body. They were reluctant to tell me anything, but I did manage to find out from one officer that the man was a resident at the hotel. In fact, his room is still checked in. The police have already sent a team in to search it, from what I know, so it's scheduled for a cleaning soon. I snuck a peek at his clipboard and caught the room number, though - I was hoping I could sneak in or something, maybe find some clues the police missed."

"I agree, but you'd have to move quickly. Before tomorrow morning, they'll be cleaning the room out, I'm guessing. Without a motive, it'll be hard to come up with the murderer's identity. Right now, anyone could be a suspect, even our boss," Frank replied, "In fact, I feel like it would be a good idea to keep as much as possible a secret from both of the Whites, just for now."

Nancy shot a glance at Bess and Joe, still shuffling through the long line. They'd barely moved since she'd last seen them. While the resort was top-rate, like most other resorts it was perpetually crowded during the winter holidays and she had a feeling that Bess and Joe would be stuck there for a while. Combined with the sabotage, which according to Frank had caused the manager to place more people outside on security, the hotel and lodge would be short-staffed for a while as a result.

"You know, the hotel is only just behind the lodge... I bet we could get into the vic's room before Bess and Joe even came back," she stated conversationally.

"Is that a challenge, Miss Drew?" Frank raised an eyebrow.

Before she could reply, George cut in, startling both sleuths from their banter. Though she didn't want to admit it, Nancy had completely forgotten about her friend's presence while she had been talking to Frank. "Nance, I hope you're not planning on doing anything stupid tonight."

"Just an idea," Nancy said with an impish grin. "What do you think, Frank?"

"If you're planning on doing anything stupid you can count on me sticking right by your side while you do," he replied easily. "I'll have you know I've got plenty of experience with stupid things thanks to Joe."

"Well, there's no better time than the present. We better hurry before the other two _do_ get back here. I'd say we have..." she twisted in her seat to see the two blondes, tilted her head in thought, then turned back to Frank for confirmation. "30 minutes?"

"At the very least," he replied, after momentary consideration.

"Then George, we'll be back in 30 minutes - promise. And if Bess and Joe do get back first, which I doubt considering the length of that line, you can start eating without us." The brunette was slightly reluctant to let the two wander off on their own, but she trusted their instincts. If they thought they should check out the room now, she would have no arguments. And if Nancy did try to do something reckless, which was extremely likely, she knew Frank would keep her safe. George watched the two hurry off in the direction of the hotel, already making a plan.

AaA

Frank wasn't even really surprised when he found himself in the elevator of the hotel barely five minutes later, having jogged the distance to the hotel with Nancy. When Nancy Drew wanted something, she wasn't the type to wait around for it. It was just one of the many things he admired about her.

"Let's see... the room number was 404, so it's probably going to be on the fourth floor. I'm hoping we might find a maid around who can let us in," Nancy said.

"The old, 'I'm _so_ sorry but I left my pass in my room and I _really_ need to get inside so do you think you could possibly please unlock it for me because it would be _such_ a big help' act?" he asked.

She blushed, but he was spot on. It was actually a pretty good impression of her, although she knew Frank hadn't been trying to mock her. Honestly, if that plan didn't work out she was going to have to get creative to find a way in. It was a shame hotel rooms only used pass keys, or she could have just picked the lock to the door. "I take it you have some experience with the process," she said to Frank.

"It may be simple, but it works. A tried-and-true method, I guess you'd call it," he replied with a small shrug as the elevator stopped on their floor, the doors opening with a 'ding'.

The two sleuths exited, looking for an indication as to which way they should go, left or right. The hotel was large, but it was easy enough to locate room 404. They followed the numbers up to 404, making their way down the hallway. It turned out they didn't need to wait for a the cleaning staff after all. As they approached the room, they were knocked aside by a guy about their age, talking animatedly to who they presumed were his parents behind him. They appeared to be in a rush, probably eager to get to dinner then hit the slopes.

The hallway was otherwise empty; everyone had already gone down to dinner in either the lodge or the hotel basement, based on their preferences. The three strangers were too absorbed in their conversation to glance back and notice Frank casually wedging the tip of his boot between the crack in the door frame, holding it open until they were completely gone.

"Nice job, Hardy," Nancy complimented him. "I'm guessing you also noticed the balconies when we came in?"

He grinned and nodded in affirmation. Their thoughts were usually in sync, and tonight was no exception. The outside of the hotel, which was a grand, old looking building, had balconies running along the walls and almost definitely continuing around the back of the building. With a quick glance around, they opened the door fully and crept in, 20 minutes remaining in the total 30 they had promised George. They made their way quickly to the balcony, uninterested in the occupants of this room. As long as the adjacent balcony door was unlocked, they were in the clear. The only remaining obstacle otherwise was the gap between the balconies.

Frank stood next to Nancy on the balcony, evaluating their options. On the on hand, they might be able to just jump and make it, but the railing was slippery with ice. While he was willing to break into a hotel room, he wasn't intent on falling four stories down and breaking his legs, or worse.

The other option was to climb along the wall ledge, made of ornate stone with a wide edge just below the balconies. Unfortunately, the snow made it equally dangerous.

"What do you think, Nan?" he asked. She had come to the same conclusions as him, and screwed up her face in thought. She decided quickly, picking the second option as the less dangerous choice.

"Okay, here's the plan. I'll climb down - ah, no buts - and get onto the ledge there," she started, shushing him as he tried to protest. "I'll be _fine_, Frank, you don't need to worry. I can probably make my way across in two steps, grab onto the railing, and make it up just fine."

"Look, Nan, you know that I know you're a fantastic detective and all, but this is really risky. If anyone should cross it, it should be me - it may be part of my case in the first place, remember," he said. If Nancy got hurt investigating when he was with her, he'd never forgive himself. "Besides, my legs are longer and I can cross it faster."

"I appreciate your concern, really, but the longer we wait here the more likely cleaning staff will arrive. If you think about this logically, I'm the best person to do this. No offense or anything, but I'm not confident that I can support your full weight from this balcony, and it won't be safe if we're only holding on to the railings. I trust you to be able to give me a hand up if I slip - which I won't - or catch me if I fall - which I also won't. But just in case, you'll be strong enough to do that while I'll be balanced enough to make it across."

Frank wanted to argue further but she was right on two counts: firstly, time was ticking and it would all be for naught if they got caught in the act. Secondly, she was much lighter than him, and he knew he wouldn't let her fall. "Okay," he said, holding up his hands in mock defeat, "you win. But we'll do this slowly and carefully, alright?"

Nancy smiled, glad he'd come around before she'd _really_ had to persuade him. Years of experience solving mysteries had made her pretty good at trusting her gut feelings, and she knew this would be the safest way across. They exchanged places on the balcony, Nancy standing closer to the railing than Frank. She took off her gloves, not wanting to lose her grip on the railing or Frank, and carefully lifted one leg up and over the railing, followed swiftly by the other. Standing on the opposite side of the railing, not really wanting to look down, she grasped Frank's hand firmly and slowly lowered herself onto the ledge. Luckily, Frank was almost tall enough to reach her hand comfortably, and Nancy slowly edged her way down holding on to the railing with one hand and Frank's hand with the other.

At the halfway point, she was too far from Frank to hold on but close enough to make a grab for the balcony of room 404. She let go quickly, lamenting the loss of warmth for a second, and then smoothly placed a foot on the edge of the balcony and hauled herself up.

"Okay?" Frank asked, the worry evident in his voice.

"Okay," Nancy replied with a reassuring smile, getting onto the inside part of the balcony. She tried the door, and found it unlocked thankfully. Four floors up, there wasn't much reason to lock it at all - who would be crazy enough to try to break in this way other than her and Frank?

"You have just over 10 minutes to look around, then we should head back before anyone gets worried. In the meantime, open the door from the inside and I'll meet you in the hallway."

Nancy hurried inside and quickly unlatched the doorway, checking through the peephole first to make sure no one else was around. After their ordeal getting in to the room, she would be devastated if they were caught by a maid walking past. Satisfied that no one else was around, she opened the door exactly as Frank walked out of the other room. They decided it would be smarter to place someone on guard, just in the off chance the room _was_ scheduled to be cleaned right now.

"Kick the door once if someone's coming, twice if they look like they want to stop, and three times if I need to hide, fast," Nancy told him. It was standard practice for guard duty, and he knew it well having done it with Joe in the past. She left him leaning casually against the door under the pretense of waiting for a friend and started with the bedroom first. She was running out of time, and although her idea had only been half-formed at the table, pushed into action with the help of Frank, she still hoped she could find something to help their investigation. Nancy had searched many a room in her life, and she went through her usual routine of all the classic hiding places.

A couple minutes later, she was still empty-handed and getting frustrated. The safe was open, but empty. The bed was rumpled, but the blankets and mattress yielded no secrets. The desk drawers were an appropriate depth, meaning no hidden bottoms, and an empty suitcase, a black European model, lay on the floor, likely dumped out by the police. A quick search yielded a tag stating the trunk belonged to a Jake Haines. Hanging in the closet was a heavy winter coat, contradicting the under dressed body she and George had found in the snow.

Overall, although the room hadn't been cleaned yet, she could find nothing that indicated where he came from or why he was here. Hopefully, the short-staffed hotel would take some time before sending someone up to do the job. Before then, she needed to find a clue. But nothing told her why he was here or why someone had wanted him dead. She heard a kick on the door and hurried up. Chances were the person would walk right along, but if not, she didn't want to stick around.

Nancy entered the bathroom and gave it a cursory glance, opening the cabinets and checking the toilet tank. She made her way back into the bedroom, checking the drawers of the dressers, the lamp shades, and all the hidden places you could find in a hotel room. The person outside had probably passed completely by now, but she wasn't taking the chance of being caught snooping. As well as potentially tipping off the murderer themselves, she could risk being kicked off the resort completely. Which would really put a damper on her vacation with Bess and George. Making her way along the desk, feeling the undersides for anything odd, she suddenly froze then sprang into action - Frank had kicked the door three times.


	5. A Close Call

A/N: Reviews, comments, and/or general feedback are all totally awesome. Special thanks to Shani for her constant reviews along with all you other lovely folk! I hope everyone's enjoying their holiday break :)

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Nancy's first thought was to spring to the door and slip out, the three knocks signalling that someone was about to enter the room. The doors were close enough that anyone who saw her leaving would naturally assume she was with Frank, leaving from 405. Chances are the warning was for a cleaning lady, but with any luck she would start with a different room down the hallway. Before Nancy could reach the door, though, the sound of a key card clicking in was audible, and the door knob jiggled.

She mentally cursed and dashed back to the balcony again, willing to at least take the chance she could make the trip across balconies by herself if she was careful enough. As a plus, there was almost no chance the maid was going to go out onto the balcony, not during the winter, anyway, which meant either way she would be safe. But before she could open the balcony and dash out, the door began to open.

Frank stood guard as Nancy searched, leaning casually against the door of 405 but on alert for any sounds. Nancy had been inside for a short time when he heard footsteps accompanied by a faint rattle approaching. He gave the door a quick tap with his foot on the off-chance it wasn't another resident, warning Nancy that someone was around. With any luck, they would enter their room and avoid 404 completely.

He waited as the footsteps drew nearer until he saw the person accompanying them: a maid, pushing her supply cart in front of her. _That was what the noise came from_, Frank grimaced as he saw the wheels rattling around. She was at the opposite end of the hall, separated by a large number of rooms, and moving very slowly towards him.

He glanced sideways, noting the number of doors between them and saw a few 'do not disturb' signs hung up. But a few rooms looked like they didn't have the signs - if he called Nancy out now, the maid might see her leave anyway and get angry before Nancy had the chance to fully investigate. And after the room was cleaned, none of the victim's personal belongings would remain - this was their only chance. Frank hesitated, but decided in the end not to call Nancy out just yet in case it was a false alarm.

Leaning against the door under the pretense of waiting for someone inside, he watched out of the corner of his eye as the cleaning lady continued towards him, not stopping at the other doors like he'd hoped. Although he wanted to give Nancy as much time to search as possible, it would be better that they leave empty-handed then get caught snooping around in an area under the police's interest.

He leaned against the door of 405 and kicked his heel back three times, trusting it would be loud enough for Nancy to hear even though she was in the room next door. He just hoped he hadn't waited for too long. The cleaning lady had almost reached him, still moving at an exhausted shuffle, but if Nancy slipped out quickly Frank was pretty sure the maid would assume she had come from room 405 instead.

He thought he could hear Nancy moving towards the door, and crossed his fingers. But before the door opened, the maid reached him, sparing a tired glance to him before unlocking the door to 404. He swore to himself, hoping Nancy had a place to hide. He knew Nancy was quick on her feet, and judging by the silence in the suite he assumed she had heard the key card and managed to get out of the way. He had to do something before she got caught, and fast. Frank decided he would give her exactly 45 seconds before he tried anything, to search for a diversion while giving Nancy a chance to escape on her own.

AaA

Nancy groaned inwardly, careful not to make a peep. She'd dashed back to the balcony in a sprint, dove to the left behind the bed and _just_ managed to scoot under as the door opened. She held her breath as the stranger, presumably a member of the cleaning staff, entered the room. Though she doubted her breathing would be heard from under the bed, she had a feeling a gigantic sneeze would not go as unnoticed. Judging by the copious amounts of dust covering the floor and bed frame, no maid had cleaned under here for months. Nancy shuddered. She had only been under there for a few seconds but she was already longing for a long shower to rinse out the dust from her hair.

Frank would already be planning a way to lure the maid out, but she didn't want to just lie there idly. She tracked the movement of the unknown person with her ears, a blanket blocking her line of sight from under the bed. She heard the footsteps come closer, pause, then retreat to what she assumed was the bathroom. Seizing the opportunity, she slid back the way she had come as silently as possible, trusting that even if the maid _was_ still in the room the bed would block Nancy from her view.

She was almost out when she felt a small tug on her hair. Grimacing, she reached up to her head and awkwardly felt around for an obstruction. She soon found what her hair had caught on: a piece of tape, holding a paper of some sort to the underside of the bed. _This could be _exactly_ what I'm looking for, _Nancy thought to herself with a growing smile.

Upon further investigation, always hard in the semi-dark with minimal arm space, she concluded that it was an unsealed envelope although she couldn't discern its contents. Silently untaping it from the bed frame, she stuffed it into her blouse for temporary safe keeping, not able to comfortably place it in her pocket while lying on her stomach.

Nancy finally extricated her body from the bed completely, still keeping one ear tuned to the sounds of the stranger as she hunkered down on the floor and glanced to her right. The balcony door didn't squeak when it opened, judging from when she'd entered the room, so if she could just be _absolutely _sure the maid wasn't going to look over and spot her sneaking out, she could get out onto the balcony. From there it would just take some careful manoeuvering and she could leave from room 405 and meet up with Frank again. Unfortunately, leaving by the front door wasn't an option - no matter how silently she got _to _the door, the sound as it shut would catch the person's attention immediately. No, if she was going to escape undetected, it would have to be by the balcony.

Her keen eyes snapped shut momentarily, calculating where the maid was probably standing right now based on what she could hear. She guessed that, assuming it was the maid, she was standing in the bathroom. She could hear a faint wiping sound, accompanied by the click of heels on tile floor. Although the balcony door would likely slid open with virtually no noise, if the maid caught a glimpse of the curtain moving or the door opening in the mirror, or of Nancy herself sneaking out, it would all be for nothing. If the saboteur or murderer knew she had been poking around with Frank, it could put both of them in danger and ruin Frank's chance at solving his and Joe's case. She had to get this right if she was planning on escaping undetected.

Suddenly, Nancy heard a loud knock on the door and flattened herself to the ground once more. Listening intently, she picked up the sound of Frank's voice and the unknown female's. Chancing a quick peek over the bed, Nancy caught a glimpse of Frank standing behind the supply cart of a woman, ruffling a hand through his hair and opening his deep brown eyes in a pleading manner. She would definitely have enjoyed watching him in action, but she didn't want to waste the chance he was giving her.

Quickly but carefully, she opened the balcony door a sliver and slid out, making sure not to ruffle the curtains on the way. Silently closing the door behind her, she let out a breath of relief and silently thanked Frank for his intervention. She guessed he would keep her talking for a few minutes, but she wasn't too concerned the maid would want to stand on the balcony anyway. The only problem now was crossing to room 405 without falling. Nancy stood at the railing and evaluated her options again.

AaA

Frank groaned. His 45 seconds were up, but a cursory glance around the hotel provided nothing that would bring the maid running, save for the supply cart. He had briefly considered using that itself, but the carpet provided too much traction for rolling it into a wall and it was too large to overturn on his own. Nothing was available to throw around, which meant he'd have to go with what they had planned in the first place.

Frank leaned over the supply cart blocking the door and knocked firmly, slicking back his hair and tucking in his shirt as he waited. He listened as the woman made her way to the door slowly and opened it. As soon as she made eye contact, he launched into his act.

"Um, hi," he said, biting his lip with a nervous smile and aiming for a self-deprecating tone. "I just saw your cart here, and I was wondering if you could possibly do me a _huge_ favour and open my door for me," he said, glancing down at her name tag before rushing on. "The thing is, Samantha, I was supposed to meet my wife at the room. She's got our key card, and I've left mine inside the room. I've already been waiting for 25 minutes and she said she would be up in 10, and I_ really_ need to use the washroom. But, I don't want to go down to the lobby and miss her on her way up. So I'm kind of stuck right now, and if you could help me out I would owe you big time," he finished with a pleading look and a slight squirm for good measure.

In his experience, making people feel bad for you could be a pretty useful tool. Add that in with a long story, and by the time you were done talking all they really wanted you to do was stop and leave them alone. Checking her name tag could help to - it was a reason to believe he might report her for not helping him, or commend her for lending a hand. All he had to do now was wait.

Judging by the quick glance she'd given him going into the room, she had seemed exhausted from a long day of work. Just another person, waiting for their shift to finish so they can go home already. Luckily for Frank, this meant that by the time he'd finished his lines, she just wanted to finish her job in room 404. And the fastest way to do that would be to just let Frank in and get back to work. She didn't disappoint - without more than a word, she moved around her cart and opened the door to 405, watching Frank rush in with a quick 'thanks!' over his shoulder before returning to her clean up of room 404.

Frank knew Nancy hadn't been able to leave from the front door with the maid so close, but he didn't want to risk asking to be let in to a farther room. It would be way too suspicious if the maid wondered why a guy waiting outside one room wanted to be let into another on the opposite side of the floor, and chances are she would just leave him be.

So, in all likelihood Nancy was still inside the room. But now Frank planned on making his way over the balcony and giving her a hand. He knew Nancy wouldn't have sat around while he'd kept the maid occupied, and he'd bet money that she had made her way out to the balcony to ensure she wouldn't be found inside, just waiting to find a safe way across.

As it turned out, Frank was mostly right. Nancy _had_ left the room while he was occupied, and she _had_ made her way onto the balcony. But she had also decided _not_ to wait, it seemed, as she was already halfway over the railing balanced precariously with one leg on the ledge. Not wanting to startle her, he whispered her name and gestured to wait for him to help. She smiled upon seeing him, a sight that filled him with warmth in the cold night, but continued on her way. Sighing, Frank decided not to push it - she was already doing well herself and until she hit the halfway point there was no way to reach her anyway.

He leaned over the railing anyway, arm outstretched and hand at the ready to grasp her once she came within reach. Accepting his hand, Nancy ever so carefully moved along the ledge and let out a breath of relief when she made it to the railing. Wrapping his arms around her, Frank helped lift her onto the balcony's floor.

Nancy had planned on making the way across herself, but she was relieved that Frank had made it before she'd gotten too far away from the railings. Ice covered the stone on the ledge, and a biting wind blew through the sky. Slipping here would be undoubtedly fatal.

As he gently set her down on the balcony ground, she found herself subconsciously snuggling into his muscular arms, holding onto his waist for support. Nancy realized she didn't want to let go of him as they stood wrapped together on the balcony. She looked up and met his eyes, blue to brown, and lost her train of thought. Hearing a door slam shut in the distance broke her out of her reverie. Nancy was mortified at having clung to him like that, and she quickly let go of him. Almost immediately regretting her decision as the cold surrounded her once more, she hurried into the warm building followed closely by Frank.

AaA

Frank stood in the elevator, thinking back to what had happened on the balcony. They had been standing there, holding each other and staring into each other's eyes like something... well, something a lot more than friends. Her deep blue eyes made him lose track of time until the faint sound of a door slamming shut broke the trance. Feeling her grip on him loosen, he immediately stepped back and dropped his eyes to the floor. _Good going, Hardy,_ he berated himself, wondering what Nancy was thinking as he followed her to the elevator.

_What am _I_ even thinking? _Frank wondered with alarm. _Since the day we met, I've admired and respected her, but since then... I've always avoided thinking of her like _that_ because of Ned. And as far as I know, they're still together, meaning I've got no chance anyway. But do I want one? _

Judging by the amount he'd enjoyed holding her on that balcony, he had a feeling the answer was a definite yes. He would have to think about this for a while before doing anything rash - above all, he wouldn't sacrifice their friendship for a crush. He promptly decided that for now, he would push it to the back of his mind. There was a bigger issue at hand at the moment: someone on this resort was a saboteur and possibly a murderer. His first priority should be to find and stop them.

"You know, it's a shame we didn't even find anything after all that effort," he commented conversationally. "I guess the police were very thorough in their search." Without a lead, they didn't have a great chance of finding out what was going on or figuring out if the murder was connected to the sabotage.

"Oh!" Nancy exclaimed, drawn out of her thoughts. "I'm so sorry, I completely forgot about why I even went in there! I found out two things: first, the victim's name is Jake Haines. Secondly, I found _this."_ Frank startled as she suddenly reached down the front of her shirt and brought out a small envelope. Nancy hid a smile as a blush creeped up Frank's neck while he coughed, but the reminder of the clue brought it to the focus of her attention. "I couldn't reach my pockets," she said as explanation while she examined the envelope carefully in the light.

"Where did you find that?" asked Frank, focusing on the envelope instead. "Is there anything inside?"

"Um..." Nancy opened the flap and pulled a small scrap of paper, torn on one side, out of it. "Yeah. I guess there is. But I have no idea what it says."

"Can I see it?" Frank asked curiously. Nancy obliged at once, and handed over the small piece of paper. It was blank on one side and the other simply had six strange symbols written on it, each one a partial square, some with a dot in their corner.

Frank studied it curiously. "AOLFFL? NOLFFL?" he said, trying to form letters from the shapes in the same way you would read block letters. Sadly, he didn't think it would be that easy to understand. "I'm going to go ahead and assume those aren't meant to be letters, which means it's got to be encoded somehow. Do you recognize the cipher?"

"No, although it looks familiar. I feel like I've used something similar for a case once, but we can ask George once we get back. I have a feeling she'll be able to shed some light on the matter," Nancy said as they made their way through the snow to the lodge. "By the way, it's been just about half an hour, although it feels like much longer, so Bess and Joe are probably back by now."

The two hurried through the doors, stomping off the snow from their shoes. Making their way to where they had left George, they caught sight of their friends sitting around a table laden with trays and plates brought by Bess and Joe. If nothing else, both blonds definitely shared a love for good food. George waved them over and they sat down opposite each other.

"So, Frank, George tells us that you guys suddenly got this burning passion to go 'investigate' a hotel room and you left the caf running. Anything you want to tell us?" Joe smirked, a twinkle in his sky blue eyes that caused both sleuths in question to blush slightly. Nancy knew Joe was just joking but her mind jumped to the thought of Frank's strong arms around her again, his warmth surrounding her in the cold.

"Save the jokes for later, Joe," Bess said playfully. "C'mon, guys, we want to hear about your adventure. And is that a dust bunny in your hair, Nan? What _did_ you guys get up to?"

Frank insisted Nancy did most of the explaining as her story was much more interesting than his by far, and so she gave a brief recap of what had transpired in the hotel room during most of the 30 minutes. Taking the envelope out again, the paper was passed around from person to person to see what they thought of the strange message.

Joe reached the same conclusion as Frank and Nancy, and like them, didn't recognize what code was being used. Bess merely shrugged and passed the paper on after giving it a glance, but George paused in thought and cocked her head, squinting her eyes slightly. "A code, huh? This actually looks pretty familiar. Do you guys mind if I hang onto this for a while? I might be able to figure it out after I do some research." No one had any objections, so George tucked the paper away safely and vowed to figure it out as soon as possible.

They continued to eat, chatting lightly about what they'd been up to since they'd last seen each other. Soon, their conversation moved to skiing and who was better at it between the brothers.

"Please. The only reason you never wipe out is because you've never done anything harder than a beginner slope," Joe quipped.

"First of all, that's totally untrue. You always drag me along with you when you feel like showing off to girls on the expert slopes, and I get by just fine, thank you very much," Frank replied with a pointed look. "And I think it would be an appropriate time to mention that on that one case, it wasn't _me_ that broke their leg and almost let the killer get away."

"Ooh, ouch," Nancy said with an exaggerated wince.

"One case. That happened on _one_ case," Joe pouted, to everyone's amusement.

"Don't worry, Joe," Bess said smiling sweetly. "Me and George _totally_ believe in you."

Joe put on a wounded face, recognizing sarcasm as easily as he used it.

George snorted. "I hope you don't think she's being serious. I bet even _Bess_ could take you."

"And what does that mean, Ms. Fayne?" Bess replied haughtily, the smile on her face ruining her attempt at anger.

"How about this, guys?" Nancy interrupted. "We have a few hours before the slopes close and we were planning on going skiing together anyway. Why not now?"

"I'll second that. Besides, there's no way I'm letting my little brother show me up," Frank said with a snort. The five reached a consensus quickly and they quickly finished eating, then put away their trays.

As the five headed to the slopes, armed with gear from the rental shop, Joe leaned in to Bess and whispered, "And so Step 1 begins."

* * *

A/N: So I'm guessing most people won't really care anyway, but the paper has an actual message on it and I always hate when I can't visualize something I read. I don't really know how to describe these symbols in words either, so I updated the story cover to include the six symbols at the bottom. Just in case you were wondering :P


	6. Left Hanging

A/N: Wow, I just came back from vacation to more reviews and followers. Thanks to everyone for their feedback and comments! I'll try to update as regularly as possible, but with school work coming up it might slow down a bit - I'll do my best to keep updates regular though :)

And to KennaC - No comment :P

* * *

Nancy studied the map showing the skiing and snowboarding areas surrounding the main lodge. There were five large zones, each one with their own specific slopes, and 3 smaller ones located less centrally to the lodge. After a brief discussion with the other four, they all agreed to return to the area that Frank and Joe had investigated that morning - since the vandalism was minor, they guessed all of the slopes would be open during the night. It would probably be less busy than the main areas, too, which was a definite plus.

They made their way over to the chair lift for the slopes, a small distance from the lodge. Nancy sighed in contentment as she looked around. Although it was dark outside, the bright lights lit up the area and reflected off the white snow covering the ground. It was beautiful, despite the sabotage and murder that now stained the resort's history.

Only three people could sit on a chair lift at a time, which meant they would have to split up. George slid up into the line first, and Bess immediately seized her chance. "Joe, come with me and George!"

Joe was already moving to take the place beside Bess in line, leaving Nancy and Frank together behind them. Nancy shot Frank a questioning glance – he had noticed the weird atmosphere between Bess and Joe too. Resolving to discuss it once Bess and Joe were out of hearing, Nancy moved the conversation back to the case while they waited.

"How is Mr. White planning on containing the news?" Nancy asked Frank and Joe as they got in line. "A place this famous, something like a murder would be disastrous for business."

"They're covering it up, making sure no one leaks it to the press. Joe and I already got the treatment when we took on the case, signing that we wouldn't reveal any information we found to anyone except either Mr. White," Frank explained.

"This place is famous, though, and a lot of well-respected people come here on vacation. If the press _did_ get wind of all the troubles that's been going on, business could crash dramatically," Nancy said. "But does that mean you can clear the Whites from the suspect list?"

Frank smiled slightly. She had noticed it, too. "I know what you mean," he said. "Everything about this case seems just the slightest bit off. The danger isn't hurting their business in a big way, and they don't seem appropriately concerned about the damage done."

"Actually," Joe said, cutting in, "They called us in because apparently someone gave them a glowing recommendation of us, and they decided it would be better than bringing the police in. They didn't tell us _who_ though."

Their conversation was interrupted when they realized it was time to get on. Bess, Joe, and George moved up and sat down, starting the steady ascent. Frank and Nancy followed them up, and as soon as they sat down they simultaneously turned and opened their mouth to speak.

"Do you think-"

"Have you noticed-"

Nancy laughed, and gestured that he should go first, already fairly certain of what he was going to say.

"Have you noticed anything weird going on between Bess and Joe lately?" Frank asked.

"Funny you should mention," Nancy said with a wry smile. "I was just about to ask that."

"There's something different about those two, more different than normal anyway," he mused. The two scrutinized them from the back, trying to determine what the cause was. As they watched, Bess spoke and Joe immediately unwrapped his scarf to replace it around Bess' neck as George watched the skiers below.

Frank's mouth dropped. _No way..._ "Nance, when was the last time Bess had a boyfriend?"

Nancy thought back, but couldn't remember Bess ever getting serious about any guy, although she'd definitely flirted around with a number. "I can't remember. You're not suggesting...?" she asked carefully. She turned her attention back to the two blondes, Joe now having slung his arm casually around Bess' back. "Okay, I'll admit it definitely _looks_ like they're dating, but Bess was flirting with a guy at the resort this morning. She was even trying to set either me or George up with his brother."

"But that weird feeling I keep getting from them only started at supper, when they came back from getting food... and – wait. She was trying to set you two up?"

"Yeah, why?" Nancy asked confused. "She's been doing that a lot lately, it's actually getting pretty annoying," she added with a snort. "And having George around only brings the attention off me half the time."

Frank was blown away. "Is Ned okay with this?" he asked incredulously. He could tell Ned had been mildly jealous of the time Nancy spent with him when they were working, although Nancy was _not_ the unfaithful type; there was no way he would be okay with Bess going around and setting her up randomly.

"I don't see any reason why he wouldn't be. It's been a while since I last saw him," Nancy shrugged nonchalantly, oblivious to Frank's confusion.

"So you two aren't...?" Frank started hesitantly.

"Oh gosh. I told you, didn't I?" Nancy asked, her eyes wide as realization set in. She groaned, explaining, "I forgot to bring it up when it happened, and then I just forgot about it altogether. Me and Ned split up about 9 months ago. We're still friends, and we keep in touch, but we don't see each other regularly anymore."

"I'm sorry," Frank said, automatically. His curiosity was burning in the back of his mind. Nine months?!

"It wasn't anything-" Nancy began, then stopped, sensing the silent question. "It was because of my detective work, that's all. He just wasn't happy when I kept running off to danger while he waited and worried. In the end, it just worked out better for the both of us."

Frank cleared his throat and decided to return to their original conversation, not wanting to push Nancy into explaining if she didn't want to. "Back to my brother..." he started.

AaA

George watched the people below them, their snow suits standing out completely against the white snow in the bright light from the light posts. Her cousin was plotting something, and she had a feeling a certain Hardy was helping her with it. She mentally apologized to Nancy for whatever her cousin was going to do. She sighed, wondering if Bess _actually_ believed she was being subtle when they got in line for the chair lift. Knowing her cousin, she wouldn't put it past her.

Bess was more focused on her whispered conversation with Joe than what George was doing beside them. She snuggled closer to him, enjoying the warmth of his arm and his scarf immensely in the cold winter night. He really was a perfect gentleman at times. "What do you think they're doing?" she asked, head bent close to his.

"I just hope they're not talking about the case anymore," he snorted. "Sadly, I don't have that much hope."

"Fortunately for you," Bess said conspiratorially, "I happened to find the perfect opportunity while I was in the rental shop."

"Oh?" Joe asked with interest. "And what might this 'perfect opportunity' be?"

"It involves dancing," she warned him, "and I have a feeling both you and Frank are going to need to find some formal wear for the occasion."

"Now I'm intrigued," he said. "What have you come up with this time, Bess Marvin?"

Bess had barely been able to contain her excitement when she saw the poster in the shop. It was the perfect thing she needed to get Frank and Nancy to move past the 'just friends' stage. A Winter Ball, the poster proclaimed, followed by the pictures of dancing couples and a gorgeous ball room that Bess assumed was located in the old hotel. She explained it all to Joe, enjoying the smile that was growing on his face.

"It couldn't be more romantic," Bess sighed happily. "The dress, the music, the dancing... we just need to think of a plausible reason to go."

"That's true," Joe agreed frowning. "Knowing Frank and Nancy, even if the case isn't progressing quickly they'll just be more eager to find out what's going on - even getting them to go skiing while on a case was a surprise. They probably wouldn't have been as keen if this wasn't the slope where the sabotage has been happening."

The two fell to silence for the first time since they'd gotten on to the lift, much to George's relief. She was just looking forward to a night of hard skiing before retiring to their cabin and getting some much needed rest before tomorrow. Unfortunately, the silence lasted all of five seconds before her cousin began talking again.

"I've got it!" Bess said to Joe, pleased. "And it's not even a lie. Nancy wants to know more about her murderer and Frank and you are trying to find a saboteur, so the ball is the _perfect _place for all of us to be. It's a huge event – most of the people at the resort will be here, meaning-"

"Both murderer and saboteur could be among them," Joe finished with a grin. "Perfect."

Suddenly, both of their trains of thoughts were derailed when they heard a shout from Frank behind them.

AaA

"They _have_ to be dating. It's the only possible explanation for everything that's been going on," Frank said.

"That's why they were acting so weird in line for the chair lift! And all those little looks they've been sharing, plus that air of a secret they're giving off," Nancy said in understanding.

They paused for a moment so that Frank could lift the safety bar up again. They hadn't reached the sign instructing them to do so yet, but it was close enough that neither of them cared. It was still a distance from the top of the hill, and from the ground, and Nancy shifted back slightly in her seat. She shivered, hoping they would get off the lift soon so she could warm up. _If I could just get my coat done up fully...but I can't hold get a hold of the zipper with these gloves on!_

Frank noticed her dilemma, wishing he had brought something warmer he could lend her. "I can hold your gloves, if you want," he offered, trying to help out anyway he could.

"Thanks," Nancy said in relief. "This has got to be the most exasperating thing."

Frank chuckled, and held a hand out for her glove. Taking it off, Nancy reached over to hand it to him. And promptly dropped it off the chair lift.

"oH MY GOD, I am SO sorry!" Frank shouted, cheeks crimson. "I thought- I didn't-" he spluttered, leaning over like maybe he could still catch the falling glove.

Nancy tried to contain herself, but the sight of the normally cool, calm, and collected Frank Hardy spluttering in embarrassment was too funny. She burst out laughing, Frank still apologizing in complete mortification. The three in front of them had turned around, probably worried something was wrong. Her laughter assured them that nothing unusual was happening, and they turned back to face the front, almost ready to get off.

"Don't worry about it, Frank, really," she said with a barely suppressed smile. "I packed an extra pair in my luggage, so I can use that later. Really, it's totally okay. That was probably my fault more than anything else, honestly." She was almost as embarrassed as Frank was. She _knew_ they were on a moving ski lift, and she _knew_ she should have been more careful, so if anyone was to blame it was definitely her.

Frank wanted to fall off the ski lift. He couldn't believe he had done that. He could not _believe_ that he had done that. But he couldn't just let her freeze without a glove on, either. "At least let me help you out for now," he said apologetically.

Nancy was momentarily confused until Frank took off his left glove with extreme care, put it in his pocket, and placed their now bare hands into his empty pocket together to keep them warm. There was still a reddish tinge to his cheeks, to Nancy's amusement, but she felt a warmth in her own face that indicated she probably looked the same. _Okay, I have to admit it. If I knew not having gloves meant getting Frank Hardy's hand as a substitute, I might not have packed those extra gloves in my trunk, _she thought to herself only slightly guiltily.

He opened his mouth to speak, but before they could speak a sudden jolt shook them as the chair lift came to a grinding halt. Nancy's heart leapt into her throat as she and Frank slid forward, past where the safety bar would have stopped them. _Okay, I didn't _literally_ mean I wanted to fall off the ski lift! _Frank thought in a panic.

He immediately grabbed his side of the chair and let go of Nancy's hand, moving to replace it around her waist instead and drawing her close to him as she instinctively wrapped her arms around him. They held each other closely, waiting as the chair slowly subsided its rocking before coming to a safe stop.

Nancy knew she was fine now, and in no danger of falling off, but she had to admit that she probably held onto him a bit longer than necessary - make that a lot longer than necessary, actually - before giving him some room and switching one hand to her own side of the chair. Her hand, though, still cold without its glove, remained securely in his even though they no longer needed to fear falling off.

She looked down carefully, and her heart almost stopped. If Frank hadn't moved fast enough, or if either of them had simply lost their grip, they would've fallen almost 30 feet to the ground below. The probably wouldn't have died, due to the soft snow on the ground, but a broken leg would probably have been inevitable at the very least. Before her heart had resumed its normal pace, though, Frank and Nancy were suddenly plunged into darkness.

AaA

Bess and Joe were almost dying in curiosity. All they could tell was that Frank had messed up somehow, judging by his shout and Nancy's laughter. Luckily, it seemed to be going well and Bess and Joe decided they should avoid ruining a moment by watching them from their chair. It would be more than a little obvious if Frank and Nancy happened to look up at them and found them turned around. That didn't mean they didn't desperately want to see what was going on, though.

In the end, maybe it would have been better if they _had_ been watching. At least that way, they would have already been holding on to the chair back when the lift suddenly stopped. Bess yelped and George gave a gasp but Joe was more focused on the control booth in front of him. If he could just get a glimpse of something, or someone, they could have a major breakthrough in the case.

There were no sudden screams, no loud thunks, and nothing to indicate anyone had actually fallen off, thankfully. But before Joe could assess more than that of the situation, the lights kicked out.

The only light source they had was from the moon, the stars, and the small glow that came from the direction of the main lodge. It took a few moments, but before long the backup lights kicked in, likely powered by a generator, and they were able to see other again. Bess, Joe and George all turned to look at each other, George voicing all of their thoughts: "We're gonna be here for awhile, aren't we?"

AaA

Frank and Nancy sat together in companionable silence, holding hands but giving each other a bit of space. They knew that they would be stuck there a while, at least 30 minutes, before the lift got working again. If they were lucky, it might only take 20 minutes, but either way they would be freezing cold until they got off.

Nancy decided to put the safety bar back down, just in case it started moving again, but didn't move over enough to accommodate for the divisor in the middle - instead of moving over to the other side of the chair, she was just pushed closer to Frank's side. "Oops, sorry," she said, moving to remedy her mistake. "I forgot about the divisor there."

"Don't worry about it. We'll be warmer together anyway, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest," Frank replied casually.

"Well, if you put it like that..." Nancy said with a smile. She snuggled in closer and decided to just enjoy being there, and not think about anything except the stars, the snow, and the warmth from Frank's side as he held her close to him. And, of course, the mystery they had on hand. "This is the work of your saboteur, then?" she stated.

"Gotta be. And this time, with so many people involved, I doubt there's anyway they're going to be able to keep the press from finding out. The only question is how much the reporters will get in the way of our investigation," Frank frowned. "The fact that this is even happening to people at all makes me question our suspicion of the White brothers."

Nancy nodded in agreement. "Before now, it made at least _some_ sense - no actual damage was being done to the resort or its customers, but whoever did it seemed to have a good idea of how the machinery used here works. Most people wouldn't think it's a big deal to damage some of the machines that were vandalized, simply because they never see them being used."

"Exactly. Behind the scenes kind of stuff that you'd need to have insider information to know. First things first, let's get a list of the employees here. If we know who's working on the slopes, we'll at least have a better idea of who's capable of the vandalism _other _than the people hiring us to solve the case. We don't want to accuse them without evidence of any kind, or our reputation will really be called into question."

"And meanwhile, I think we need to have Bess take a look at the damage from the mechanical point of view and let George get on with her research."

The two smiled, glad to have a plan at the very least even if they did feel like they were in the dark about something. Working together, they'd find the answer, and they knew that for a fact.

They enjoyed the feeling of the other against them and waited, until finally the chair lift started up again and a loud whoop came from Joe as he pumped his fist in excitement. They would finally be able to get onto solid ground, a fact Nancy was thankful for until she realized she'd have to let go of Frank.

They cautiously raised the safety bar again, hoping that this time they would complete the trip fully, and separated slightly so they wouldn't fall over each other getting off. Within a few seconds, they were on their skis standing in a group with the other three.

"I hate to just go back down there after waiting in the air for so long, but we need to check out what happened," Bess said. "I, for one, am more than a little curious as to why the lift suddenly just shut down. There's no way it was an accident."

They completed the run closest to the chair lift, skiing and snowboarding down the path to make their way to the control booth where they had lined up. They found a bizarre sight: the chair lift itself looked fine, and there was no evidence of tampering visible to any of them after examination. The lift operator, on the other hand, was unconscious, surrounded by medical personnel in the small booth.

"Okay, what's going on?" Joe demanded.


	7. Good Old Fashioned Sleuthing

A/N: Reviews, comments, and general feedback are always appreciated! Much thanks to everyone who followed and/or favourited :) Obviously, none of these characters are mine and I own nothing of either franchise.

Also, I'm incredibly sorry it took me so long to update - school work is getting pretty heavy, unfortunately, so I'm trying to squeeze in some writing time wherever I can. Thanks to everyone still reading!

**[Note: I ended up editing the end of this chapter slightly to fix word choice - don't worry, though, no storyline changes occurred **_:)_** ]**

* * *

With Bess' charm, George's stubbornness, and Nancy's skill in getting people to reveal information, they pieced together the entire story pretty quickly as the boys left to meet with their bosses, the Whites, and get an official report.

Normally there was always at least two, if not three, employees working in the ski booth at a time. It was considered an easy job, for the most part: start the ski lift, stop the ski lift, and make sure beginners don't have any trouble getting on the ski lift. For the less busy slopes, like this one, it wasn't unusual for just one person to man the controls.

Tonight was one of those occasions. And unfortunately, it meant that no one knew what had happened in the booth or why someone had knocked someone out just to stop a ski lift for a few minutes. Nancy and Bess split up to search the area and talk to the skiers, hoping that maybe someone had seen something or noticed something suspicious.

In the meanwhile, George slipped in to the control booth, glancing around to satisfy herself that no one had seen her. She doubted it would matter _too_ much if she was caught - after all, it was perfectly understandable that a passing skier might be curious about what was going on - but if she was found in this kind of situation again, that would be harder to explain. If someone recognized her as the girl who reported the body, questions might start being asked and that would hinder the investigation no end. And while George didn't exactly consider herself a detective, she wouldn't ruin Nancy's case by being clumsy.

George stepped in and carefully shut the door behind her, deep brown eyes surveying the scene. The unconscious worker was gone, along with the medical squad, and the police hadn't arrived yet. There was a chance they wouldn't be called though - after all, the more police hanging around meant more of a chance that reporters would catch on to what was happening. And it wouldn't be good for business to get the vacationers here worried. As far as she knew, the dead body was still pretty much a secret too.

Despite her slim frame, there was barely room to turn around in there. It wasn't a surprise the workers chose to put one person on a shift at a time - it would be way too crowded otherwise. From what George could tell, the worker had been sitting in the chair with his back to the door when he was hit. So how come he didn't notice his attacker come in? She frowned in thought.

The door had squeaked upon opening, and made a slight noise when it closed. There was a chance the victim must have know his attacker, she surmised. If not that, then something was distracting them from the door - a disturbance, maybe, or a loud noise of some kind.

George chewed her lip in frustration. There wasn't much to be found here: nothing that had fallen from the attacker, no sign of a struggle even, except for the turned chair. Someone had come in, someone who the employee had known or expected, and they had hit the worker over the head hard enough to render them unconscious.

She caught sight of Bess and Nancy outside the booth and hurried to join them. Hopefully they had learned something from the employees around here.

AaA

Frank and Joe made their way into the ski lodge, deciding to wait to discuss what had happened until they were alone. They paused briefly outside the door, not sure what to expect from the two brothers that had hired them. But as Joe lifted his hand to knock, Frank suddenly caught his arm and placed a finger on his lip. Trying to look as unsuspicious as possible, which wasn't really that unsuspicious considering he was eavesdropping in public, Frank casually leaned against the door and angled his ear towards the sound of raised voices. Someone was having an argument, and by the sounds of it, it was the two brothers.

Unfortunately, it was too quiet for either Hardy to make out the heated words. Deciding they might as well knock, and maybe catch them off guard, Joe rapped shortly three times on the door. Frank raised his eyebrow as the voices immediately stopped. A few seconds passed in silence, Joe shrugging at Frank, before the older Mr. White opened the door.

"What do you want- Oh, it's you two. Yes, yes, come in, hurry up, now," he ushered them through the door, not looking like a man who'd just been in a fight with someone. The other Mr. White was already seated behind the desk, and his brother joined him while Frank and Joe stood opposite them side by side.

"So have you boys uncovered anything new?" he asked hopefully. "Things just seem to be getting worse and worse... and now one of our own employees was hurt! It'll be disastrous if we don't find anything out soon."

"Of course, sir. We have a list of suspects at the moment, but no conclusive proof that solidly indicates anyone," Frank stated. "We're going to need a list of your employees on the ski slopes that have been affected, both past and present."

"And if there have been any incidents with them, we'd like to know about them too," piped in Joe. It would take a while because the owner and manager didn't personally deal with their employees. But in the interest of containment, they forbade Frank and Joe from going to anyone else while investigating unless it was just to question them normally or unless they had cleared it first. In Joe's opinion, it didn't make total sense but he wasn't about to start an argument with the guy letting him stay at a ski resort for free. Heck, he was being _paid _to stay at a ski resort.

They got all the necessary information and headed back to the cabins, hoping to meet the girls along the way.

AaA

Nancy glared at nothing in particular. No one had noticed anything. Or seen anything. Or heard anything. There was no evidence of a struggle in the booth, according to George, and it appeared as though the attacker had slipped in, hit him on the head with a blunt object, and then shut the ski lift down and left.

But there was nothing to explain why, no witnesses that could further explain the event, and no discernible reason someone who had been sabotaging machinery would suddenly up and start hitting people on the head - or worse, leave them stranded in the cold winter night to die.

The three girls were making their way dejectedly back to the cabins: there was nothing further they could learn from the ski booth, and their night of skiing was essentially ruined. They made a quick stop at the lodge to return their skiing equipment, and Bess stopped for a moment to speak to another resort stayer.

Nancy caught the name Adam, and realized it was the guy Bess had made a brunch date with earlier. Considering she was dating Joe now, at least based on what she and Frank had decided, she figured that this guy was still interested in Bess. Guys naturally came up to her: with her curvy figure and dimples, Bess Marvin turned heads wherever she went. _Poor Adam_, Nancy chuckled. Hopefully Bess let him down easy.

She and George continued on their way, giving Bess a chance to talk by herself, and walked together slowly in amiable silence until Bess caught up with them. "Hey," she called out. "I think I just found a date for George for the winter ball!"

Nancy furrowed her brows. _Winter ball? __What on earth is Bess going on about now?_

George just groaned. She knew her cousin had been plotting something evil on the ski lift, and she'd been absolutely right. She hated dancing. The only reason she ever liked attending those formal wear events was for the food. And now Bess had set her up with a guy who was probably just mooning over her cousin anyway. Lovely.

An evil grin split Bess' face at the look on her cousin's face. She wanted Nancy and Frank to get together first and foremost, but she would never pass up the opportunity to see George dance with someone, especially a _male _someone. As for herself, she and Joe had already decided they would go together, to make it seem natural for Nancy and Frank to go together as well. And Bess already had the perfect outfits picked out for the three of them.

But before Bess could get around to explaining it fully, Frank and Joe ran up to them and fell in with the group. "So we just got back from meeting them," Joe said brightly. "And we got a list of employees around here, which is more than we've had to go on in a while, soo..."

Frank smiled slightly. His brother was right, but it still wasn't that much of a lead. "We're going to go over them tonight in our cabin... do you want to take a look through just to familiarize yourself with the names?" he asked Nancy. It probably wasn't really necessary for her to help out, but he wanted her company for a while and it would make the boring task more fun to do with her. "There's also a list of incidents that we need to go through," he offered.

"I'd love to," Nancy replied without hesitation, smiling widely. "Meanwhile, George, can you get a start on those symbols we found?" she said, turning to her friend.

"On it," George replied with a snap of her fingers.

Bess wrinkled her nose and sighed. "You guys are all gonna be busy sleuthing tonight, aren't you?"

Joe smirked. "Well, seeing as how Nancy's helping out Frank, we don't really need to have three people looking over the information."

"Perfect," Bess smiled happily. They needed some time to plan out what they were going to do at the ball with Frank and Nancy. This was their perfect chance, and there was no way they were going to miss it.

And so the five friends split up into three groups, Bess and Joe hanging out in the girls' cabin, George moving to her bedroom to do some research on her laptop, and Nancy and Frank heading back to Frank's room to go over the new information.

Frank sat down on the floor, taking the stack of papers and splitting it into two piles. Nancy knelt on the ground across from him and the two started going over the lists of names, occupations, and incident reports. Unfortunately, the resort was big: even though the information only covered a fraction of the slopes, it would take a while to review.

The two worked in companionable silence, glancing through names and trying to place them to the faces of everyone they had interviewed or questioned during that time. Nancy stood up to stretch her legs, her jeans hugging her athletic figure and drawing Frank's attention before he checked himself and glanced back down at his papers.

"I need a cup of coffee," she said. "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"I could definitely do with some caffeine right about now," Frank replied gratefully, yawning slightly as he stretched out his arms. They had been working for just under an hour, now, and it was already getting late. He wasn't sure what the others were doing at the moment, but he hoped they were at least doing something productive.

Nancy returned shortly, a cup of coffee clutched tightly in each hand. She frowned, trying to navigate around the papers strewn across the floor. Frank immediately stood to help her when he saw her predicament, and reached forward to take a cup just as Nancy moved to hand it to him.

Their hands collided with a crash and the burning coffee spilled down the front of Frank's sweater. "Ow! Hot, hot, hot!" Frank yelped, the boiling liquid scalding his skin through the fabric.

Nancy gasped and apologized, quickly turning to set the coffee onto the desk and turning back to Frank. "Um..." she started frantically. Hot coffee could do incredible damage to the skin, even through a layer of clothing. "Right. Shirt off. Now." Nancy fought back a nervous giggle: she hadn't pictured her night ending up like this.

Frank complied, and she helped draw his sweater over his head, unbuttoning his shirt quickly and taking that off too as he sat down on the bed. Nancy grabbed the Kleenex box on the desk and began wiping his bare chest, resting her hand on his thigh and leaning forward. His solid chest was proving to be a slight distraction, but Nancy was more concerned with making sure he was all right. His embarrassment barely registered as she continued to dry him off.

Nancy groaned. "I am so, so sorry. Are you all right?" she asked, bending down in front of him and lightly resting her fingertips on his chest, already turning red. She gave the floor a cursory glance and let out a sigh of relief that at the very least, she hadn't ruined the papers too.

Frank winced, but other than the red splotch on his skin, the hot coffee hadn't done any serious damage. He opened his mouth to reply, when Nancy looked up at him with her sapphire blue eyes. Frank paused, speechless, and suddenly the rest of the room disappeared and it was just the two of them. He leaned ever so slightly closer, and Nancy wet her lips involuntarily, tilting her head up to his. He reached out to brush back a strand of her strawberry blonde hair, and ever so slowly-

Suddenly, George burst into the room and they sprang apart, blushing bright red. _Why exactly is Frank shirtless?_ _Next time, knock first,_ George berated herself with an inward shudder. _That could have been all kinds of awkward. _She caught sight of his sweater, stained and lying on the bed next to him, the smell of coffee permeating the room. "Um, am I interrupting something?" George asked, slightly mortified.

"Yes, I mean, no! No, we were just reviewing these," Nancy said, flustered, with a vague gesture at the mess they had created around the room.

"She spilled coffee on me," Frank volunteered, seeing George's still bemused expression.

"Right... Well, anyway, I just thought you guys should know I found out what type of cipher it is," George replied, deciding not to dwell on what else they may have been doing before she burst in.

Frank moved to his closet and pulled on a clean t-shirt over his head, ruffling a hand through his dark brown hair and wincing slightly at the lingering pain. Nancy picked up on his discomfort and remembered that he needed some ice for his chest. She had gotten... _distracted_... before George had come in, and had forgotten the standard treatment for minor scalding. "Give me a second, George, I'm just going to grab an ice pack from downstairs."

Nancy returned in a under a minute, handing the ice pack to Frank and letting him treat the affected area on his chest. She apologized heavily again, but he brushed it aside with a laugh. "We always seem to get a bit more clumsy around each other, huh, Nance?"

She laughed as well. "You can say that again. First the glove, now this... Although, a cold hand is nothing compared to a coffee burn," she said remorsefully.

"I'm fine," Frank assured her. "So George, let's hear it. What did you find out?"

"It's actually a pretty common one, although it goes by a few different names: most people call it a pigpen cipher, but it can also be referred to as a masonic cipher, Freemason's cipher, or tic-tac-toe cipher," George explained quickly. "It assigns a symbol to each letter, based on a sequence that utilizes grid spaces and dots."

"And it said?" Nancy prompted.

"Pierre. Does that mean anything to you?" George asked tentatively.

The two sleuths considered it, and finally shrugged. "There are 2 workers named Pierre that I saw, if I recall correctly, but neither are outstanding in any way and they haven't ever had any troubles," Nancy offered.

"So why did we find it in our murder victim's room?" Frank thought out loud. "A clue as to who murdered him? A reference to a friend? And why would it be hidden under his bed in the first place?"

"Well, I also did some more research into the resort and I found out a few interesting things. First of all, this isn't really important, but this place has been around for _ages. _It started much smaller, as a nature retreat, but it grew hugely into a large resort over the last 15 years or so. That hotel was the first thing built, although it was expanded later. But the actually interesting news is that there _are _a few trails and runs with the word Pierre in the name: and one of them is right in the area that's been experience sabotage in the weeks before."

Nancy grinned. "Good work, George." That meant that there was a very good chance that Jake Haines, the murdered man, had been related to the sabotage in some way. Now they just needed to find out how exactly.

Frank was about to speak when a yawn overtook him. He checked his watch: almost midnight. They'd been working for a while now and after the day they'd had, it was about time for all of them to get some sleep. Nancy took the cue and helped gather up the employment data spread out across the floor. She and George bid Frank good night and left to their cabin, finding Joe and Bess sprawled out, asleep, on the living room couches.

Nancy smiled to herself as they woke both blondes, sent Joe to his cabin, and got ready for bed. They had been so close to... something... before George had come in. That feeling she got when she was around Frank was getting stronger the more and more time she spent with him. And although they hadn't seen in each other in a while before this case, she was already extremely accustomed to having him around to ask advice from and joke around with, and even spill coffee on. She fell asleep thinking about how amazing he looked without a shirt on.

Frank laid on his bed, the lights off, thinking about that night. He liked Nancy. There was no doubt about that now, and the night's events had only strengthened his belief. He _really_ liked Nancy. Even when they were being clumsy and having accidents around each other, even when they were arguing over a case and what should happen, he found that he wanted to be with her more and more. And by tomorrow, he would see if she felt the same way. Once the timing was right, that is...

AaA

Bess and Joe burst into giggles yet again, shooting back and forth increasingly ridiculous ideas for setting Nancy and Frank up.

"Ooh! We should lock them into a closet and leave them there for a few hours!" Bess exclaimed.

"Or, we should get them to go skiing together again and push them into each other on the slope!" Joe cackled triumphantly.

"Actually, they could probably get seriously hurt doing that," Bess said regretfully.

"Dang. Hmm..." Joe leaned back on the couch, suppressing a yawn. "Maybe we should get them to go that restaurant at the hotel, the fancy one they advertise in the pamphlet."

"Hey, that's an idea!" Bess said excitedly. "They'll already be dressed up for the ball, so after we go there, we'll just drag them along with us!"

The two grinned happily, knowing their plans would soon come to fruition. Although, now that Joe thought about it, Frank didn't even _know_ about the dance yet... and did Nancy and George? He voiced his question to Bess, who considered for a moment, and remembered that she hadn't gotten a chance to fully explain it but they knew what was up. "So we just need to convince Frank..." Joe mused.

"I also set George up with that guy I met earlier, since we're going together," Bess giggled. "I can't wait to see if she likes him. He's pretty good with technology, too, just like George, so I'm hoping they might just hit it off."

"Oh? Not planning on keeping him for yourself?" Joe joked, eyebrows raised.

"Hey, I've got you, right?" Bess replied mischievously. She yawned, and let her head fall back on the couch. As she and Joe continued to talk, she drifted to sleep accidentally. Joe gave a small smile and settled a blanket over her shoulders before falling back on his couch and promptly joining her in sleep. There would be a big day tomorrow, and they'd need a lot of rest to get through with it...


	8. Night-time Pursuits

Nancy opened her eyes blearily, squinting around the dark room as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light. A faint silvery glow illuminated her surroundings: she could make out the vague outline of the cedar dresser beside the door, the rug laid out on the oak flooring of her bedroom, and the bedside table. _What time is it?_ she wondered in confusion. The light streaming in from the window indicated that it was still hours before morning, and a quick check of her watch on the table showed that it was just about 4:00am. Well, as long as she was up, she might as well check around - something had woken her, but Nancy had no idea what.

_Thump._ She was midway through swinging her feet onto the floor when she heard the noise. Nancy froze - what was that sound? She was immediately on alert for another sound, but it was temporarily silent. She slid silently out of her bed, pushing back the sheets as she went. The air was chilly, and Nancy was grateful for her sweatpants and thick sweater.

_A robber? The saboteur? _Nancy's mind raced. For all she knew, it could be as harmless as a branch knocking against the cabin's side in the wind, but she operated under the assumption that something sinister was going on. Her keen hearing picked up the faint sound of scratching as she eased into the cabin's upper hallway, peering around in the shadows. She winced as the floor boards creaked: nothing loud enough to alert anyone potentially downstairs to her presence, but she didn't want to rouse Bess or George.

Tiptoeing her way past Bess' room, Nancy turned to make her way down the stairs, still hearing an odd scratching sound. It was vaguely familiar... almost like the sound of Togo walking around in the middle of the night, but this sound was harsher, more of a clacking than the soft scrape of her bull terrier's paws against the floor at home. It was enough to confirm her fears: someone, or _something_, was wandering around right now. Based on the sound, she would guess that, whatever it was, it currently was wandering around in the living room to the left of the staircase.

Nancy breathed as quietly as she could as she carefully eased her way down the stairs, the carpet muting her footsteps almost entirely as she peered into the living room. Luckily, her eyes had almost completely adjusted to the dark, and combined with the moonlight she could make out most of her surroundings save for the dark shadows in the far corners of the room. Nothing looked out of place: the front door was closed, the curtains open The sound was stronger now, and she could make out a snuffling noise. _A wild animal?_

She didn't know how it had gotten in, but there was no mistaking it: as she waited tensely, the clatter of claws against a hardwood floor moved towards the closer wall, just passing the edges of the window. It wasn't huge, but if her fears were correct, she was staring at a wolverine moving about the living room.

A hand landed on her shoulder and Nancy almost shrieked, stopping herself at the last moment. Her heart beating like she'd just run a sprint, she turned to see George standing on the staircase, her short-cropped hair sticking up in all directions. George's face was clearly that of confusion: she hadn't noticed the wolverine yet, and was wondering why Nancy was up in the middle of the night. She was a particularly light sleeper sometimes, and the creaking in the hallway had made her curious so she'd left to investigate.

As Nancy gave her a hastily whispered explanation, though not knowing herself how a _wolverine _had made its way into the cabin, she still kept an eye on the shadow shuffling about in the dark and desperately hoped it didn't sense them yet. They needed a plan - wolverines could be vicious and Nancy didn't like their chances against those claws. And then Bess woke up.

AaA

Bess had been enjoying a lovely dream involving dancing in a ball and a romantic dinner when her cousin and friend rudely awoke her up with all their moving about in the house, the creaks pulling her from some much needed rest. _Geeze, _she thought in annoyance. _Are they having some kind of party down there? _

She sighed. Once up, it was always difficult to go back to bed. While she was loath to abandon her warm comforter, she slipped on a pair of fluffy slippers and made her way out of the room to see what was going on, grabbing a brush on the way. Even if her only company would be George and Nancy, she liked looking her best when possible.

Suppressing a yawn, she blinked sleepily and shuffled downstairs, giving her hair a half-hearted brushing to remove the worst of the tangles at the very least. She smiled thinking about her dream, picturing herself dancing away the night with a certain dashing blond clad in a tuxedo next to Nancy and George. _Hmph. Nancy and George are going to hear it when I find them...Wait.._ she squinted down the stairs. Two figures, Nancy and George, she presumed, were huddled together in the dark, slowly inching their way back up the staircase with their backs turned to Bess.

She narrowed her eyes. Something was very wrong about this entire situation. She could swear there was something black at the bottom of the stairs. Why was it so dark, anyway? Well, Nancy and George could stand around in the dark if they wanted to but Bess would rather _see_ what was going on. She flicked the light switch on, and screamed at the sight before her.

AaA

Frank was up and moving the moment the scream cut through the night, followed immediately by Joe. The scream cut off almost as abruptly as it had started, but whether that meant the threat had passed or it was already too late, Frank had no idea. The two brothers simultaneously pulled on their boots, not bothering with coats over their clothing, and dashed outside to where Nancy, Bess, and George were all staying for the night.

Joe was thinking furiously about the events of last night: after he and Bess had fallen asleep on the couch, Frank had woken Joe up and dragged him back to their own cabin. Bess had probably moved back up to her bedroom before falling asleep, which meant that if there was someone in the house they probably wouldn't find Bess just sleeping there defenseless. _But that scream... _he pushed it to the back of his mind and slammed into his older brother, who had stopped short near the front of the cabin.

"We need a plan," Frank said grimly. "We can't just go in there defenseless or we might just make the situation worse. We have to trust that Nancy and the others can manage without us."

Joe groaned. He hated it when Frank was logical, because it normally meant he was right. They split up and searched the area as quickly as possible, meeting at the back patio. "Anything?" Joe asked hopefully.

"The only thing is a trail of footprints leading to the door and back away again - there's no other evidence of a forced entry unless they made their way in through the front door somehow, and I checked to make sure that it's still locked."

"So whoever came is gone, now," Joe said. "Which means we're all clear to figure out who screamed, and more importantly, why."

Frank looked doubtful, but he wasn't eager to wait any longer either. "Okay. But we need to split up. Follow those footprints and see where they lead."

Joe grumbled. His older brother was right again, of course, but he hated when he got all bossy. He glanced at Frank, clad in t-shirt and sweats. He was wearing a thick sweatshirt himself, and he wouldn't be as cold as Frank would. "Fine - just make sure everyone's okay."

Frank snorted, "You know I can handle myself." Not wanting to waste anymore time, Joe started at a run after the footprints, trusting the moonlight to guide his way.

Frank grasped the handle of the back door and tested it: unlocked. He pushed open the door as quietly as he could. He estimated that it had been about five minutes since the scream. He needed to find Nancy fast and figure out what was going on.

The stair light was on, but the kitchen and living room were both empty and covered in shadow. He could hear a weird snuffling sound, combined with an insistent scraping noise coming from the upstairs hallway where the girls' bedrooms were located.

Frank bound up the stairs, throwing caution to the wind - his instincts told him he wasn't dealing with a robber or saboteur right now, but based on the sounds, he was more concerned that the three girls were being cornered right now. He turned into the hallway and came face to face with a full grown wolverine, brown fur, black eyes, small claws and all. Yeah. That was pretty much exactly what he was hoping he wouldn't find.

Recognizing the defensive stance the animal was taking, Frank decided that right about now would be a pretty good time to get out of there and draw it away from the bedroom door, where he assumed Nancy, Bess, and George were currently stuck in.

He turned on his heel and flew down the stairs, the sounds of paws hitting the ground after them. To his knowledge, wolverines weren't incredibly fast so he would likely be able to outrun it. He just needed to lure it outside and away from the girls. Luckily, Frank hoped, the wolverine was still on his tail. He dashed down the hall and ran out the door, spinning to the left and pressing his back against the wall.

The wolverine kept running, and as soon as it was out the door Frank stepped back in and quickly shut the door. Now that it was back in the wild, where it was used to being, he had a feeling it wouldn't be aggressive and would return to wherever it came from. There was no way an adult wolverine had accidentally made its way into a cabin with all the doors and windows closed. The resort was known for wild animals as well, but they weren't supposed to be anywhere near the residential area. He hoped Joe was making some kind of progress.

Nancy was the first to find him, still leaning against the back door. "Frank?" she called out in surprise. "How did you know- the scream," Nancy realized, answering her own question. It _was_ pretty loud, and she wasn't surprised it had woken up both brothers. "Wait, where's Joe?" she said, noticing his absence for the first time.

"Sorry about that, by the way," Bess said, holding up a hand and shrugging. "I plead guilty - I scream when I'm scared."

George laughed. "And when you're excited, or happy, or angry..." she trailed off.

Bess humphed, but there was a smile on her face.

"I guess we have you to thank for our rescue, Hardy," Nancy said with a grin. "We owe you one - I was already evaluating my chances of jumping out the window when the scratching on the door stopped."

George opened her mouth to speak, but yawned instead. "I think I'm going to turn in now. Bess?"

"I'm down with that. I hear my pillow calling," she joked, linking arms with her cousin and heading back upstairs with her, a hairbrush held limply at her side for some reason.

Nancy gave Frank a quick peck on the cheek, hoping the dark hallway would cover her blush. "Thanks, Hardy. Really."

Frank reached out a hand and ruffled her hair. "Anything for my favourite detective," he grinned, as she batted away his hand, trying to hide her smile.

"So, I'm guessing you're going to go follow Joe?"

"And I'm guessing you're not going to sleep another wink if you don't tag along," he smirked.

"You know me too well," she chuckled.

The two headed over to Frank's cabin after Nancy pulled on her parka and hat, and Frank got both his coat and Joe's on the assumption that he might want it wherever he was right now. They returned to the girls' cabin's again and began following Joe's footprints at a brisk pace, grabbing a small flashlight for the trip as well. Wherever the tracks lead to, Joe had followed them all the way out into the forest. Together, they began the path into the dark woods.

AaA

Joe grumbled and moaned for a while, but he wasn't really angry. He knew that whatever had happened, Frank would take care of it and make sure everyone ended up okay. Besides, someone had definitely 'fled the scene', so to say, and he intended on knowing who.

The tracks continued for a while, steadily moving towards the hotel. Joe was trying to run, but it wasn't easy in the snow. Luckily, the owner of the footsteps - who was male judging by their size and depth - didn't seem to be in a terrible rush. The footprints were spaced moderately apart, meaning if he kept up his pace right now he might just catch them.

The trees suddenly broke, and the white snow stretched out in front of Joe - and to his delight, a figure in black was making their way across the flat ground. Joe seized his chance and began moving as fast as he could, hoping to at least get close enough to identify him. Whoever it was, he was in bad shape - the snow seemed to have worn him out and he was bent over double, presumably catching his breath. As Joe drew closer, struggling to keep up the speed while minimizing sound, he finally caught his first glimpse of the man's face: brown hair peeked out from under his toque, and his face had a ruddy complexion. He looked old, but Joe wasn't certain exactly how much from this distance. The only other identifying clue was his portly figure, which was large even accounting for possible layers of clothes underneath the coat.

But then the man caught a glimpse of Joe and resumed his pace, going even faster than before. Joe almost laughed seeing him struggle through the snow. The snow hindered him even more than his unathletic physique, but he had a good head start on Joe. Not wasting any more time, Joe resumed his pursuit, not wanting to lose sight of his target.

He continued across the clearing, into the woods where the unknown man had run, but the tracks abruptly stopped at a small river, still flowing gently despite the chunks of ice floating along it. "Damn it," Joe swore under his breath. _Left or right? _The shadows from the towering trees loomed against the snow, the moonlight lighting up the sky. Unfortunately, it didn't help him see where his quarry had hidden.

Joe guessed that he would probably go the direction of the water flow, which would lead closer to the hotel, so he turned right first and headed out into the woods with the hope that he didn't choose wrongly.

Meanwhile, Nancy and Frank were only a minute or so behind him. The more the path was cleared in the forest snow, the faster they could move. Before leaving, they made sure a number of the stranger's footprints visible to examine them later. It was far from morning, but the more time that went by, the lighter it became outside. They reached the same dead end Joe had, but before they could begin a search down the creek, Joe appeared.

He shoved his way past the branches, his breath coming out in a huff. He was getting cold, and mad that he had lost the guy. Seeing Frank and Nancy, he offered a wry smile and an apology. "It's my fault. I lost him when he hit the creek and I have no idea where he went from here."

Nancy was disappointed, but suggested they head back until the sun rose completely. The adrenaline had woken Joe up fully, but the cold was starting to really set in and he happily agreed, taking the coat Frank offered. He described the man as he had seen him in the clearing, wondering if it fit any of the employee profiles Nancy and Frank had looked at last night.

Neither of them recognized the description, but they vowed to talk about it with Mr. White, the manager, to see if he knew who it could possibly be. They would also need to question desk clerks to see if they recognized a customer who looked like that.

But first things first, they really needed some sleep.

AaA

Nancy woke to the sunlight this time, shielding her eyes from the warm light. She pulled on an olive-green knit over her dark blue jeans and padded downstairs. Bess and George sat in the kitchen, chatting lightly over their plates of eggs on toast. The wolverine hadn't made any great damage, other than a few scratch marks on the wood paneling.

She was still a bit sleepy, but she was more eager to get started on today's investigations. She slung herself into the chair between the two and ate hungrily, needing energy after the events of last night.

After breakfast, she and George met up with Frank and Joe - Bess claimed she needed to do some shopping although Nancy had no idea where she would find stores to shop at. _For that matter, where is Bess even going shopping?_ Nancy wondered. The lodge must have been bigger than she thought. She pushed the matter out of her head, and focused instead on the case. They finally had a solid suspect - now they just needed to figure out who he _was_.

* * *

Disclaimer: As well as not owning any part of Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys franchise, I have no idea how to deal with a wolverine in the wild. But those things _are_ vicious.


	9. A Busy Day

A/N: Thanks to the astounding patience of all my followers! To everyone reading, whether they just started or have been with me from the start, thanks so much :) I apologize for the long wait - exams coming up and all - so here's an extra long chapter just for you ;)

* * *

It was right before noon, so the lunch-time rush hadn't started to trickle in just yet, and the four friends were taking a quick break after having done a quick, but thorough investigation into their mystery man with all the resort employees that dealt with guests. Unfortunately, no one had recognized the description - at least not definitively. As it turned out, there were a number of old, large, brown-haired men staying at the resort. Mr. White, the manager, fit the description himself, as did his brother.

For the moment, they would just have to keep an eye out themselves and wait for a report from security in the hotel. Nancy wished they had more to go on, but other than what Mr. White had told Frank and Joe, they only had three things to go on from first-hand experience: the murdered man, Jake Haines; the knocked out ski lift operator; and the wolverine set loose in their cabin in the middle of the night.

"Ach-OO!" Joe sneezed violently, breaking her silent musings.

"Ergh," Frank groaned, "people _eat_ on this table, bro."

"Yeah, yeah," he said with an indignant sniffle, grumbling, "There is _no way_ I am coming down with a cold." He drew his black sweater closer around his shoulders, rubbing his hands together for warmth as Frank, Nancy, and George sat around the cafeteria table with him.

George smirked. "That's what you get for running off into a forest in the middle of the night, during a Canadian winter, without a coat on. You didn't even have gloves - I'm actually shocked you don't even have frost bite."

Frank chuckled. "If you think last night's weather was bad, you're not gonna like what's coming up. I checked this morning, and while the skies are staying clear for tonight they're predicting a bad storm tomorrow."

"By the way, I think it's probably a good idea if you carry this around," Nancy said, reaching into her purse to draw out a copy of a key for the girls' cabin. If anything bad happens and you need to get in, or even if one of us loses _our_ copy, it'd be a good idea for one of you to have a spare."

She dropped the copy into Frank's outstretched hand, having asked for the spare from the front desk only that morning. Frank grinned and tucked it into his pocket. "That's a good idea. But are you _sure_ the back door was locked when you went to bed last night?" he asked cautiously.

"I'm positive," George piped up. "I checked myself before going to bed and it was locked tight."

Bess breezed in at that moment, carrying three matching bags and wearing a devilish grin on her face as she thrust one each into Nancy and George's face. "Guess what I got?" she sang gaily.

Nancy shuddered, eyeing the cursive brand on the bag warily. "Bess, please tell me you didn't go overboard."

George stared at her bag with an apprehensive expression, wanting to peek inside but fearing her cousin's taste for the more outlandish sides of fashion. "Why did you even get these-" she waved vaguely at the bags "-for us, too? I thought this was a personal shopping trip."

The blonde smirked, and announced her big news happily. "There's a ball tonight. And I know neither of you packed anything decent to wear-"

"Hey," Nancy protested in mock anger. "I take offense to that."

Bess shrugged, not taking back her comment though giving a pointed glance at George's ratty sweatshirt and Nancy's worn out jeans.

"And what exactly do you mean by a ball, anyway? Look around, dear cousin - this is a _ski_ resort. People come here for the slopes and the wilderness. What kind of dancers are you expecting to show up?"

"I had a feeling you would say that," she muttered under her breath. "Hey, don't take them out here!" she admonished George. "They're a surprise for tonight. And whatever you might say, this ball has been a tradition at the hotel for a while now - I was talking to some of the sales people in the shops this morning."

"Wait," Frank interjected. "While I won't deny that I am not exactly _inclined_ towards dancing, we're still in the middle of a case. We need to find the guy from last night, before he gets up to more trouble."

"You said it yourself," Joe explained with a broad gesture of his hand. "It's the perfect opportunity - especially since it's getting colder with that storm coming. People won't be out skiing _or_ vandalizing the resort's equipment, they'll be at the ball. With any luck, our guy will be there too."

Nancy shrugged, and glanced at George. "Well, I guess I don't have a problem with going. You?"

George still looked wary, but agreed. "If all of you guys are going, I might as well tag along. Although maybe we should find out what's in these bags before we actually agree," she added hastily. Knowing her cousin, she had probably gotten the fanciest ball gowns she could find, and George didn't do ball gowns.

"Well, we still have a couple of hours until we even need to start getting ready for the ball," Nancy said. "Let's put our time to good use."

"Woah!" Bess exclaimed. "I know all of you love your mysteries, and even I will admit we've got a tough one right now, but don't think you can just change the subject so easily," she reprimanded Nancy.

Nancy sighed half-heartedly and resigned herself to a bit more of Bess' enthusiasm. She hadn't really expected Bess to just let it drop anyway.

"This is a ball," Bess informed them flatly. "You can't go without a date."

Nancy and George glanced at each other in horror. "Oh, don't worry Nancy, you're safe. I only managed to set George up with someone," Bess explained.

"What?!" the girl in question exclaimed. She groaned, knowing that her and Bess' idea of a good date didn't always coincide. Actually, they almost never did.

"Don't worry, I've met him and talked to him and he's a great guy, just not my kind of guy. He'd be perfect for you. Cross my heart, I swear," she said, holding her hands up in defense.

Nancy smiled to herself, happy that Bess seemed to have forgotten her. All the previous dates Bess had ever set her up on had failed miserably, and she wasn't eager to go through one of them again when Frank and Joe were around.

"So since George will be going with Adam, Joe and I can go together. Which means you and Frank will just have to be each other's dates," Bess beamed.

Nancy sputtered, then closed her mouth and shot a nervous look at Frank, her pulse increasing just a touch. Was he okay with this too, or...?

Frank shot her a what-can-you-do look and grinned, saying, "I guess it's settled. Nancy Drew, would you do the honour of accompanying me to the ball tonight?"

She smiled and let out her breath in relief. "Mr. Hardy, I'd be honoured," she replied in the same playful tone of voice. "And now, if I may speak...?" she glanced questioningly at Bess, then continued after receiving a regal nod of the head from the blonde. "Back to the case, then..."

Together, they put together what they already knew about the entire case:

"First," Frank started, "random acts of sabotage have been found all around the ski resort, mainly the slopes, that caused a minor inconvenience to the manager, Mr. White."

"Right, but that stuff was all pretty harmless. The next thing we found was a body, that may even be totally unrelated to the entire vandalism," Nancy continued.

"But our murdered victim, Mr. Jake Haines, is a mystery all to himself. And Nancy found that code, which George discovered means 'Pierre' in cipher," Joe added.

"And then we have the knocked out employer, the wolverine in our cabin, not to mention that weird thing with the room heater, and the fat, middle-aged man with brown hair that was caught fleeing the scene," George finished.

"So what does it mean?" Bess asked, looking hopefully at the detectives for an explanation. "Is there a motive? An identified suspect?"

Frank grimaced. "Neither. Not that we know of yet, unless the Whites are holding back on something. Those employee lists we got didn't help too much; no incidents were reported as being too serious so it seems like no one's got a grudge against this place."

"There _was _that fight we overheard in their office..."

Nancy frowned in consternation. "If we could just find out what that was about, maybe check out their offices, we may be able to narrow the field down somewhat - maybe it's simpler than we think."

"So we have two places to investigate," Frank summarized.

"Two?" George asked in confusion.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Their offices, and the woods in the area we lost that man at last night." Having nothing more to contribute towards the current facts, the five split up, Nancy volunteering to head into the woods again and Frank and Joe snooping around in the lodge. Bess and George planned on doing what they had come there for in the first place: skiing, and with that settled, they each began to make their way to their respective destinations.

AaA

"Sooo..." Joe started slyly, walking away from the table with Frank.

Frank raised his eyebrows, letting the word hang in the air between them.

"Fine, then, I'll say it since you're making me. You're taking Nancy to the ball!" he grinned in glee, doing a little happy dance and silently congratulating himself.

Frank groaned. He should have known Joe would be more interested in that small detail than their plans of investigation for the day. "It's no big deal," he replied, a small voice in the back of his mind nudging at his conscience. _Cut it out,_ he told himself firmly. _She's only going with me because Bess wanted her to, nothing more._

Joe snorted. "Is that what you actually think?"

"That's what I know," Frank retorted.

Joe sighed dramatically. "Dense as you always are about women, I'm not surprised you still don't get it," he said shaking his head. "I know I was born with all the good looks and charm in the family, but I'd hoped at least _some_ of it had rubbed off on you. Oh, woe is I!"

"Look, get to the point, Joe," Frank said in exasperation, cutting him off before he continued what would probably be a long rant on how sad it was that Frank wasn't good around girls.

Okay, so maybe it was true that he blushed and stuttered more than usual around females. And it was true that in the past he and Nancy had argued over their various cases regarding the best course of action. But in the end, they made the perfect partners, as good as Frank worked with his own brother - meaning that, despite what Joe though, he was perfectly capable of interacting with females and there equally good at understanding them.

Joe pouted briefly, but immediately snapped back into his spiel. "Here's the deal. I'm gonna spell it out, because I have a feeling that despite your experience with mysteries, which is basically your job here, actually, so I have _no_ clue how you missed this, but-"

"Joe!"

"Right. My bad. Point I'm trying to make: Nancy likes you. And it's obvious to _all_ of us that you like her. So ask her out already!" Joe exclaimed.

"Keep your voice down," Frank hissed. "She thinks of me as a friend, nothing more." _Although when she spilled coffee on you she was leaning_ _awfully close... _The small voice in his head reminded him. "I'm not going to ruin our friendship by trying to push past her boundaries." Frank stated firmly.

"You won't, though!" Joe groaned. "I promise - swear on our bond as brothers" - Frank snorted before Joe rushed on - "I will never bring this up again, _ever_, if you'll just give it a chance."

Frank regarded his younger brother, his normally playful blue eyes serious as ever. "Okay, then... I promise, I'll give it a shot. Now can we get our daily quota of breaking-and-entering out of the way?" he asked, stepping into the hall outside the office with his brother.

Joe's eyes gleamed. "You got it. And trust me - you won't regret this."

AaA

"Nancy, we need to talk," Bess stated gravely.

"What's wrong?" she asked in alarm. It wasn't like her friend to act so serious... had something happened?

"Yeah, what's up, Bess?" George inquired curiously. The three girls were making their way to the cabin to put on some heavier winter gear, so that they wouldn't be outside with just their coats.

Bess stuffed her hands into her pockets, the cold wind biting at her face. She brought her shoulders up in an attempt to protect herself against the harsh cold, but to no avail. Giving up on her quest for warmth, she sighed and decided to start right away. "The ball's coming up tonight..." she began.

"Yes?" Nancy prompted, still curious but no longer concerned that something actually dangerous was happening to Bess. "What about it?"

Bess scrutinized the red-head from the corner of her eyes. What was the best way to approach this? She decided to be blunt - it was how Nancy dealt with her suspects when trying to get them to confess most of the time, and it always worked for her. "Frank asked you to go. And you said yes," she prompted her.

"Still not seeing where you're going with this, Bess..." Nancy replied, breath frosting up in the air.

"You guys are going to a ball together! A ball! Tonight!" she exclaimed in exasperation. "Nancy, you've been crushing on him for ages now, and even when you were with Ned it was obvious the two of you had major chemistry together."

Nancy snorted. "We're friends. And occasionally partners, when it comes to mysteries."

Bess shook her head, blonde hair flying and eyes fierce. "That's not true, and you know it."

George chimed in to agree with her cousin. "Sorry, Nance, but we've both noticed it."

Giving her 'friend' a quick glare, Nancy turned back to Bess. "Even if I _did_ like him like that - which I'm not saying I do - what do you suggest I do? Run up to him and fling my arms around his neck?" _Crap... _she thought as Bess' face took on a delighted expression. _I probably shouldn't have said that myself. _It wasn't like she hadn't thought of him that way before, though. And this trip seemed to be shoving them together again and again. Maybe Bess was right and now was the perfect time to act on her feelings.

"Give it a chance," Bess said in persuasion. "It'll work out, I'm positive. And if it doesn't, he'll go back to Bayport and you'll go back to River Heights and that'll that. But it won't come to that, because he's just as much in love with you as you are with him."

_In love? _Nancy thought in wonder. _Am I in love with Frank Hardy? _

The three girls stepped into the cabin, letting the warmth envelope their bodies before grabbing their necessary clothing items. Bess and George left before Nancy, letting her grab a few more layers for the hike ahead of her.

"Just don't forget what we said," Bess called out from the door. "We're not wrong, you know."

Nancy tied her hair up in a ponytail and threw on another sweater, pulling her parka on over it and grabbing her sturdy winter boots. At the very least, this trip outdoors would give her time to think about this even if she came up with nothing.

And so, she made her way back through the woods, tracing her and Frank's steps from last night and playing back all her previous cases with him, every time they'd been alone together or he had been concerned for her safety. Before she realized it, she had trudged her way through the thick snow all the way up to the creek, now completely frozen over, that had seemed so much different in the silver moonlight than the white sunlight.

Nancy picked her way along the ice in the opposite direction Joe had gone, as he'd recounted to them that morning, and continued down the creek looking for tracks or signs of movement. Before long, she began to find broken branches and fallen pine needles, marking a faint but visible trail through the forest.

She picked up the pace with excitement - this might be the break they were looking for: if their suspect was actually hiding out somewhere in the woods (though she couldn't help but doubt the possibility of this during the winter season) they would be so much closer to finding who had let the wolverine into their cabin.

She snorted to herself, a puff of frost in the winter air. _If he thought that would scare _us_ off, he has another think coming._ They had all faced much worse than a wild animal on a case before, and while it wasn't a pleasant experience to go through, she was more determined than ever to find the mystery man.

Nancy stopped short in her tracks. The steadily sloping path had suddenly stopped, the snow slanting downwards to a small clearing filled with a quaint log cabin, the signs of human activity still fresh around the door.

She had found the hideout.

AaA

Nancy hurried eagerly back to her cabin, pushing her coat sleeve back to glance at her watch.

It was almost time to meet up with Bess and George, the former insisting they spend a good long time getting ready before the ball, and she wanted to let them know what she had found out.

She hurried up to the cabin and unlocked it as swiftly as she could, despite her numb fingers. _It is _cold,she thought to herself.

Nancy stepped through the doorway with relief, the warmth immediately permeating through her body. She brushed the light dusting of snow off her hair and stomped the snow off her boots before pulling them off of slightly sore feet. She wandered into the living room and plopped down onto the couch, the heat from the fire immediately removing any desire to find Bess or George again.

She gave herself a few moments, shaking out her ponytail and wiggling her toes in front of the fire before hopping up to find Bess and George upstairs.

Nancy heard the two before she saw them - George's yelps of pain were audible even from the hallway. Bracing herself for anything, Nancy knocked and pushed open the door, gasping at the sight before her.

"Is it bad?" George asked with a horrified expression seeing Nancy's reaction. "It's horrible isn't it. I warned Bess this would happen."

On the contrary, however, George looked absolutely stunning in a strapless chiffon gown that reached down to the floor, made from a gorgeous forest green that set off her hair and eyes perfectly. George blushed at Nancy's speechless face, and fidgeted uncomfortably as Bess darted around her to pin her hair up properly.

"You look fantastic," Nancy said sincerely, "Bess has outdone herself once again."

Bess sighed. "I told you guys so. But you never trust me, do you?"

Nancy chuckled. "It's not exactly that we don't think we won't look great in whatever you choose out... It's more like the comfort level we expect to have for the night."

"Yeah, none," George grumbled adjusting her top with a resigned pout.

Bess laughed. "Well, it _is_ just as much for me as it is for you - I love playing dress-up on you guys."

Nancy opened her eyes wider - in all her excitement about the cabin, she'd completely forgotten about her own bag, tossed hastily onto her bed before she'd left. She turned to her bedroom, but Bess nodded at the bag in question on her bed. "Looking for that?"

Not sure what to expect after seeing George's gown, Nancy carefully drew the dress out to examine it.

"Well go try it on," Bess called out irritatedly, eager to see the full effect on Nancy herself.

She smiled and ducked into the bathroom, quickly taking off her clothes to slip the gown on. She gaped at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, looking the exact part of a princess going to the ball. A slow smile curved up on Nancy's face - she couldn't wait to see what Frank thought of it. Especially the plunging neckline and fitted bodice. Bess knocked rapidly on the door, bursting in after only a momentary pause. Nancy glanced once more at herself in the mirror and grinned. She was going to enjoy this.

AaA

Frank grunted, shifting aside in the supply closet in the hall. Joe was just around the corner, about to create the diversion, and as soon as he lured Mr. White out of the office Frank would have maybe 5 minutes to examine it. Not much, in other words.

_"HELLP!"_ Joe's shout rang out through the surrounding area. A loud crash followed his words shortly and the door to the office banged open shortly after, Mr. White storming determinedly out the door in the direction of the noise.

Frank darted out and slipped through the closing door. He made a beeline for the computer and grinned upon finding the password list taped to the underside of the desk. Some things were just _too_ easy. There wasn't much on the computer: a few files, some documents for monetary transfers... He opened up the email application.

Frank furrowed his brows. One sender was persistently sending him emails, with subject lines ranging from expletives to threats of death. Frank's eyes widened. This was exactly what they were looking for: motive. His eyes drifted up to the sender_, _which was an unrecognized email address. He scribbled it down; maybe George could track its origin.

Shooting a glance at the door, he decided not to push his luck and quickly jumped out of the room, closing the door behind him. He ran to meet up with Joe, who was supposed to be waiting for him in the main lobby.

Showing him the hastily scribbled address, they decided to wait for tomorrow to search the brother White's office. As manager of the resort, there was a chance he also had something of interest on his computer, but there was no way they would be able to investigate it now so close to sneaking into the owner's office.

"Why don't you think they showed us these?" Joe wondered suspiciously, back in his cabin with Frank. The two were taking turns showering and getting dressed in preparation for the ball.

"It's weird, huh," Frank grimaced, towelling dry his wet hair. "Speaking of weird, how did you get _these_?" He gestured towards the two suits, complete with black button-up shirts and blue ties.

Joe shrugged, grinning mysteriously. "I just had a feeling they would come in handy, so I picked them up."

He had gotten them earlier that day, actually, in preparation for the ball that night. Luckily, he had remembered his brother's size right and they fit nicely.

Joe hopped into the shower and quickly ran through his usual routine before pulling on the formal wear for the night. Heading downstairs, he found Frank lounging around in the living room, looking snappy in the suit with his tousled dark brown hair.

"Yo, you ready?" he called out.

Frank snorted. "Only for the past 45 minutes. Geeze, bro, you take longer than a girl to get ready sometimes."

Joe shrugged, sweeping a hand through his blow-dried hair magnificently. "It takes time to look as good as this," he gestured to the length of his body. "Now come on. It's just about time for us to meet the girls."

They pulled on their coats and headed out, Frank slipping something into his pocket before they left. They had agreed to meet at the girls' cabin, then walk over together.

Frank strolled out, his brother just behind him, and walked up to the cabin door. Knocking loudly, they waited for close to 20 seconds when the door suddenly opened.

Standing before them was a beautiful girl, in a deep green gown that stretched to the floor. Her makeup was light, barely noticeable, but it accented all her features perfectly. The two brothers glanced at each other with raised brows.

"Um, guys? Are you planning on coming in, or are you just gonna stand around all night?" George prompted.

"George?!" Joe said incredulously, Frank equally surprised. She had done a complete 180 from the last time they had seen her - in fact, if it wasn't for her voice, he might not have even realized it was her.

She snorted, ruining her ladylike image and both brothers grinned. That was George all right. They stepped in, complimenting her dress and hair. "Sorry, but the other two might be a few minutes yet. Bess is still working Nan's hair, but they should be done soon," George shrugged, following them into the living room and plopping on one of the couches.

She was curious about their investigation, so they filled her in on their afternoon. By the time she was caught up, Nancy and Bess had finished up.

Letting Bess put the finishing touches on her own makeup, Nancy walked down the staircase cautiously, hand on the banner to support herself. While the skirt of her dress hindered her movement somewhat, the heels underneath threatened to topple her over completely. Bess' choice, once again. The noise of her descent had attracted Frank, who walked out of the living room to greet her.

His eyes widened. George had looked completely different in her ensemble, which was very pretty, but Nancy looked... gorgeous. And stunning. And amazing, and fantastic, and he was pretty sure he could rattle off adjectives all night and none of them would describe her at this moment.

Her dress was made of a soft, almost translucent fabric that gleamed like silver, the fitted bodice ending in a full skirt. The neckline plunged recklessly low, and the straps hung loosely to the side of her shoulders, accentuating her slim and athletic figure in all the right places. She looked beautiful.

Nancy grinned at his gobsmacked expression, wondering briefly if that was what she looked like right now, when she missed the next step and her foot slipped out beneath her. Nancy yelped as she felt gravity take hold, and found herself falling the remaining distance down the stairs.

Closing her eyes, she braced herself for a hard contact with the wooden floor, but the pain didn't come. Instead, she heard the light rustle of fabric and felt the contact of warm, muscular arms reach gently around her, her own arms encircling his neck in search of safety, and the soft pressure of her mouth on-

Nancy's eyes opened in shock and she found her lips pressed gently against those of a certain dark-haired detective, eyes wide in equal astonishment. Simultaneously jerking back, she blushed deep crimson, stammering out a hasty apology without meeting his eyes. The back of her mind registered the faint scent of his cologne, the heady scent making her weak in the knees. But before Frank could speak, George and Joe hurried out of the living room, having heard her cry out, and found Nancy standing with Frank, his arms encircled around her waist and a sheepish expression on both their faces.

They moved slightly further apart in embarrassment, but Frank still left one arm wrapped securely around her waist. She leaned ever so slightly against him, allowing him to help her balance on her ridiculous heels.

Opening her mouth to speak, George was interrupted and startled as a loud bang came from upstairs: Bess, hair styled, make-up immaculate, and clad in a knee-length violet ensemble that hugged her curves, floated down the staircase to where Nancy and Frank were standing, his arm still resting on her waist so she didn't fall again.

It was Joe's turn to stand there looking like he's just been hit in the face this time. Nancy giggled: while the brothers didn't have that much in common physically, their expressions (mouth hanging open, eyes wide, eyebrows raised...) couldn't have been more similar.

Bess shot a curious look at Joe upon seeing Frank and Nancy, raising her eyebrows at him, but his attention had been caught by Frank, mouthing something furiously to Joe over Nancy's head.

"You look fantastic," Joe said to Bess.

"Not so bad yourself, Joe," Bess answered flirtingly.

"Shall we get going, then?" George asked, oblivious to the exchanges around her.

They all agreed, and pulling on their coats, gloves, hats, and scarfs - much needed items for the cold night in only their dresses, they all made their way down to the lodge, then to the hotel where the ball was being hosted. Along the way, noticing her shivers, Frank grasped Nancy's hand and drew her closer to him, shielding her from the chilly wind.

The sky was clear, no sight of a storm at all, and the moon and stars were twinkling brightly above, the snow glittering like so many diamonds on the ground.

Bess grinned to herself. The night had only just started, and things were already off to an excellent start.

* * *

So I won't have time to proof-read this as properly as other, shorter chapters, but if I catch anything later on (or if one of you guys point out a typo, etc.) I'll be sure to fix it. To all other students, good luck with exams! :P


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